I was listening to a Blues/rock song the other day entitled "Joy" by Lucinda Williams. The lyrics start off:
"I don't you anymore cause you took my joy.
I don't want you anymore cause you took my joy.
You took my joy, and I want it back.
You took my joy, and I want it back."
Yes, it is appropriate to talk about joy during Lent. In fact, I just saw Father Robert Barron's blog and he is address joy in the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, so it seems to be a popular topic today with some of us priests. Joy is not tied to some surface emotion or feeling that we have. Joy needs to come from our faith. That is the joy St Paul talks about when he says that he takes joy in all things - and he can say that even when he is sitting in a prison cell.
I remember telling the mother of one of the prisoners I ministered to that I was going through a rough patch myself, and she responded saying that she doesn't think about priests or ministers going through a rough time. We are not to ignore the reality of our lives, but are to have our faith intersection with it and speak to it. The joy we feel in our Lenten journey is not the same type of joy we will find in the resurrection on Easter morning. But no matter where we are on our journey we are called to find the type of joy and hope that comes from our faith. For we must remember, with the cross, there is always the resurrection.
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