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WHENEVER <\/b>I have debated with atheists, I find that there is almost always an underlying judgment: Christians are judgmental prigs. Actually, it was a concern that Pope Benedict once expressed\u2014that we might be putting the wrong foot foward:<\/p>\n
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\nSo often the Church\u2019s counter-cultural witness is misunderstood as something backward and negative in today\u2019s society. That is why it is important to emphasize the Good News, the life-giving and life-enhancing message of the Gospel. Even though it is necessary to speak out strongly against the evils that threaten us, we must correct the idea that Catholicism is merely \u201ca collection of prohibitions\u201d.<\/b> \u2014Address to Irish Bishops; Vatican City, October 29, 2006<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
While we cannot prevent others from judging us (there will always be a\u00a0Sanhedrin), there is often a grain of truth, if not a bushel of reality in these criticisms. If I am the face of Christ, what face do I present to my family and the world?<\/p>\n
\nThere are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter. I realize of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.<\/b> \u2014POPE FRANCIS, Evangelii Gaudium <\/i>\u201cThe Joy of the Gospel”, n. 6<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Happy feelings can be snuffed out for a number of reasons in our lives. But joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit that transcends even suffering, for\u00a0authentic joy proceeds from an encounter with Jesus Christ<\/i>, an encounter where the soul knows that he or she is forgiven, accepted, and loved. What an incredible experience it is to encounter Jesus!<\/p>\n
\nThose who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew.<\/b> \u2014Ibid. n. 1<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Have you had this encounter? If not\u2014as we heard in the Gospel this past week: seek and you will find, ask and you will receive, knock and the door shall be opened. <\/i>As an evangelist in Christ\u2019s vineyards for over 25 years now in the Catholic Church, I would say that those who have had this encounter are still very much in the minority. I mean, less than 10% of \u201cCatholics\u201d actually attend Mass regularly in the Western World. Say no more.<\/p>\n
But having had this encounter with God and knowing that you are loved <\/i>is still not enough, at least, for this joy to remain. As Pope Benedict said,<\/p>\n
\n\u2026His purpose was not merely to confirm the world in its worldliness and to be its companion, leaving it completely unchanged.<\/b> \u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, September 25th, 2011; chiesa.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Rather, as Jesus says in today\u2019s Gospel:<\/p>\n
\nBe perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
At face value, this sounds exactly like a weary path of stridently keeping to a \u201ccollection of prohibitions.\u201d But that is because we have failed to understand the whole\u00a0<\/em>mission of Jesus. It was not only to set us free from sin, but to put us on the right path; not only to liberate us, but to restore<\/i> us to who we really are.<\/p>\n
When God created man, it was not for misery, toil, and anguish but for joy. And that joy was found precisely in His Divine Will, which I like to call the \u201corder of love.\u201d Made in the image of God\u2014the image of Love itself\u2014we were made, then, to love. And love has an order, a beautiful order that is as delicate and refined as the earth\u2019s orbit around the sun. One degree off, and the earth would be plunged into distress. One degree off of the \u201corbit of love\u201d, and our lives experience the distress of being out of harmony, not only with God, but with ourselves and one another. In that regard, sin is this: to bring disorder<\/i>.<\/p>\n
So, when Jesus says, \u201cBe perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect,\u201d He is really saying, \u201cBe joyful as my heavenly Father is joyful!”<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJesus is demanding, because He wishes our genuine happiness.<\/b> \u2014POPE JOHN PAUL II, World Youth Day Message for 2005, Vatican City, Aug. 27th, 2004, Zenit.org<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The reason so many Christians are not joyful is not necessarily because they haven\u2019t encountered the Lord at one time or another, but because they have not persevered\u00a0upon the path that leads to life: the will of God expressed in His commandment to love God and neighbour.<\/p>\n
\nIf you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love\u2026 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. (John 15:10-11)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
It is not enough to know that you are loved; that is only the first step in restoring your true dignity. You see, the father’s embrace of the prodigal son was only the first step in his restoration. The second step began when the son found the path to recovering his true dignity, even if he expressed it poorly:<\/p>\n
\nI am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants. (Luke 15:19)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
It is in service to God and neighbour that the path to the treasures of the Kingdom is revealed. It is in submitting to the \u201corder of love\u201d that we are then clothed in the robe of goodness and receive the ring of true sonship and new sandals to carry the joy of the Gospel of joy to the rest of the world. In a word:<\/p>\n
\nWe love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
One day, sitting there with harp in hand, King David\u2019s soul plunged into the infinite ocean of Wisdom and saw, if only briefly, the great joy that comes to those who walk in the dignity of true sons and daughters of God. That is, who\u00a0<\/em>walk in the path of God\u2019s will<\/i>. Here, then, is a portion of Psalm 119, David’s \u201cHymn to the Divine Will.\u201d I pray that you will not only read it, but embark upon it with \u201cwith all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind\u201d<\/i> [1]<\/sup><\/a>Matt 22:37<\/span><\/span>