April 1/Fourth Monday of Lent
At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing. ~ Ps 30.6
Something in our human nature tends towards pessimism. Amid the screeching barrage of daily “news,” if one can call it that, it is tempting to see the world around us through a lens of solid negativity. This is the Eeyore syndrome, named for the famously gloomy denizen of A. A. Milne’s Hundred Acre Woods. Eeyore speaks his piece to Winnie the Pooh:
“We can’t all, and some of us don’t. That’s all there is to it.”
“Can’t all WHAT?” said Pooh, rubbing his nose.
“Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush…I’m not complaining, but There It Is.”
There are, of course, plenty of reasons for weeping, not only in our polarized culture, but also closer to home as we endure losses: of job or health or security or, most crushing of all, people we love. Into the midst of the world’s and the soul’s sadness, the psalmist enters with a message of joy. Trusting in a God who desires not death but repentance, who longs for his creatures to flourish in his love, and who inclines towards joy, our singer today reminds us that while sadness and death are realities, they do not represent the final disposition of things. For as Christians believe, the sackcloth of mourning is but a temporary garment. In the fullness of time, it will be replaced with the pure, shining joy of life in Christ — a joy that we can begin to embody in our earthly lives, as we strive with all our hearts and all our souls and all our strength to build God’s kingdom, here and now. As the great Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton wrote, “Pessimism is at best an emotional half-holiday; joy is the uproarious labor by which all things live.”
Fill me with your joy, O generous LORD, even amidst the sufferings of the day, and grant that I may share it with others as we hasten towards your kingdom. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040119.cfm
