Catholic Reading Wednesday

With many thanks to our awesome curator, Karen Celano, you can delve into a faith-related news article each Wednesday! Karen writes:

A few weeks ago, Pope Francis issued the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium – "The Joy of the Gospel."  It’s a weighty document, but it is also very accessible and refreshingly conversational, focused on providing practical guidance for both laity and clergy in fulfilling the Church’s mission of “making disciples of all nations.”

The document provides much food for thought and is worthy of careful reflection.  But as we approach the third Sunday of Advent, “Gaudete”Sunday, a Sunday dedicated to the cultivation of joy, what calls my attention most is Pope Francis’ call to joy.  We as a Church community, Francis says, are called to radiate the joy of Christ!  This joy does not mean the empty pursuit of pleasure, nor does it mean that we will never experience pain or suffering.  Rather, this is the joy that comes from celebrating God's love for us, and from rendering loving service to God and others in return.  This is a joy that endures in the midst of all sorrow, and its focus is always on the "good news" of the incarnate Christ, who was born, died, and rose to give us hope for our own resurrection from all the types of “death,” whether they are great or small, physical or spiritual, that encounter us throughout our lives on earth.

Yesterday was the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and I think if we need an example of someone who manifested the joy of the "good news" in her life despite the sorrows that she endured we need look no farther than Mary, who, as an unmarried pregnant teenager – at risk of losing her fiancé, her reputation, and perhaps even her life – was still able to proclaim: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for the Almighty has done great things for me.”  To be able to sing this song of joy with Mary in the midst of the uncertainties and anxieties of our own lives is the best witness we can give to our faith in this world.

Francis tells us that such joy-filled hope should be the first thing people think of when they think of the Church.  Sadly, as Francis acknowledges, this is not often the case.  Too often the Church is seen as a dour, old-fashioned dogmatic institution intent on dictating what people can or cannot do.  Sometimes this impression is unjustified; however, Francis encourages us to consider the ways in which we, as individual believers and as a parish community, contribute to that impression.  Do we use our faith as a weapon by which we judge and condemn others?  Do we use our parish community as a tool of exclusion and exclusivity?  Do our personal prayer lives consist primarily of complaints rather than gratitude?  Is our faith expressed through a series of “anti’s” and “don’ts”?  Have we abstracted particular moral teachings of the Church from their true context, so that “it is not the Gospel which is being preached, but certain doctrinal or moral points based on specific ideological options” (EG 39)?  If so, Francis calls us to repent and convert our hearts to joy.

Francis tells us that if we want our Church to grow, we must demonstrate in our own lives the “attractiveness” of the Gospel.  During this Advent season, Pope Francis invites us to think concretely about how to express the joy of our faith in our words and deeds in our everyday lives.  How do we make the cultivation of this joy the central feature of our lives as Christians?  How do we, in our speech and actions, testify to and manifest this joy?