Rejoicing

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Psalm 122 1:4

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.

Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:

Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.

In what should we rejoice?

In all things at all times. But we must not confuse rejoicing with happiness, contentment, or any number of other earth-bound "good" reactions to things. Rejoicing can take place in the midst of deep sorrow. Rejoicing is possible in deep pain. Rejoicing is even possible in the darkest of dark nights, when we are not even certain that God is there or ever has been--St. Therese of Lisieux showed us this. When sorely tempted against the faith, she rejoiced in the temptation and chose God.

I rejoiced when they said to me,
let us go unto the house of the Lord,
Standing there O Jerusalem,
In your gates, unto the house of the Lord.

Today I rejoice in all my circumstances. I rejoice that God spoke to me a word of rejoicing. I rejoice that He asked me in the midst of pervasive and terrible pain to turn my life around. I rejoice in what He told me to remove and destroy and in the direction He has laid out for continuing.

If the true and the beautiful is not present, there is no purpose to pursuing it. In accordance, I will be dramatically reducing my time on-line. And it may come to pass that I dramatically reduce time elsewhere in St. Blogs. I have gone looking for a fight, and goodness knows I've found them wide and far. It's time to go looking for the good. And I know that I will find that wide and far also.

Praise God and thank Him in all that you do. In praising Him is the source of all joy, because He comes to rest in our hearts and to carry us home.

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2 Comments

You know, my home parish assigned me to write an Advent reflection on the readings for Gaudete Sunday, and I've also come to focus on St. Therese as a way of distinguishing joy from happiness.

She's helped me realize (with some support from the Church Fathers) that joy is necessarily about the one we love. We are happy for ourselves; we are joyful for someone else.

And Christian joy, it seems, is that forgetfulness of self and focus on God that the saints possess. Everything- even my mistakes and distractions- should be turned back to God, and not dwellt on by myself.

And in other news, I'm sorry to hear that this hiatus is what you need now. I, and many others, will miss your contributions.

Dear Patrick,

Thank you. I've come to realize that the haitus referred to had more to do with what kinds of things I would post rather cutting out posting altogether. As a result there may be somewhat less, though frankly, I haven't noticed it yet. We'll see how that develops.

Thanks for the comment.

shalom,

Steven

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This page contains a single entry by Steven Riddle published on October 30, 2005 8:26 PM.

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