Capacity for Joy
A Requirement in the Daily Life of a Cottolengo Follower
Introduction
A debate concerning the relevance of religious life in the world today arises frequently. This kind of debate is very much found in the environment of secularism and opulence [riches]. In the circles of the poor and middle class, people do not question the validity of religious life: they embrace it, they laud it, they desire it, and actually they seek for it.
One can easily see why. Religious life is synonymous with charity, selflessness, self-giving, and concern. I mean, it is synonymous to virtues. In fact, charity is defined in different ways but always retaining the sense of gratuitouness. “True charity is the desire to be useful to others without thought of recompense,”Emanuel Swedenborg. “Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows,” Moliere.
So, therefore, cottolengo followers cannot just look at charity as their distinguishing character. There must be something in the way of living this religious calling as cottolengo followers, which makes it different from how the other religious families live their own. I want to suggest my feelings about it: Capacity for Joy.
Capacity for Joy
Charles Williams wrote of a character in one of his novels: “her incapacity for joy admitted fear, and fear had imposed separation. She knew now that all acts of love are the measure of capacity for joy; its measure and its preparation, whether the joy comes or delays.” I’ve never heard before that acts of love are the measure of capacity for joy, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it, but perhaps you’ll permit me here to think aloud just a bit.
First of all, it seems clear enough that where there is no joy it will be easy for fear to fill that void. Fear always imposes some sort of separation from what is feared (if only a hoped-for separation). Such a separation will not only refuse to admit joy, but love as well, since love is about union, not separation.
But what about love and joy? What about the capacity for joy as the basis for acts of love? There is certain good sense to this, since joyless love would be something of a contradiction in terms. Perhaps a capacity for joy is a capacity for life, the abundant life that Jesus came to give. So if we are walking in the Holy Spirit and trying to live the Gospel of Jesus, to live is to love, and to love is to rejoice.
But are acts of love always carried out in joy? Often enough, to love is to suffer (or to sacrifice, anyway), and the personal cost of acts of true love can be quite high. God is love and wants to teach us to love as He does, that is, sacrificially. "Offer spiritual sacrifices..." (1Peter 2:5). "Such sacrifices are pleasing to God" (Hebrews 13:16). Loving is giving, offering oneself for the sake of another. Pope John Paul II said that it is only in the gift of ourselves that we discover ourselves and the meaning of our lives. Williams didn’t say, however, that “feeling happy” is the basis for acts of love, but a “capacity for joy.” Joy has to find room to dwell within us, like peace, which may dwell at a very deep and almost imperceptible level. The feeling of joy may “come or delay,” but in order to be able to act with love, we must be able to rejoice. True joy - which is not the same thing as the experience of pleasure or of other things we have been taught to associate with happiness -is really more akin to true love than we may have thought.
St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo
“Serve the poor cheerfully. Joy has never ruined sanctity.” “Charity, and no fear. Go ahead in the Lord!” “Take courage. Be happy and think it is beautiful to give yourself to help your brothers.”
In our rule of life, daily examen should include a look into how I have served the poor. Grumpy looks in the community and in the service take away the value of our service. How have your spent your day today?
In our rule of life, we should also evaluate what made us loose our cheer. If we loose our cheer because of selfish stands and pride, then it is a sin. If we loose our cheer because someone has truly wronged us, we should mend that quickly. It is unchristian/inhuman to keep a grudge with someone. That means any acts of charity done are from the hands and not from the heart, the seat of feelings and faith.
In our rule of life, we should also see when we feel happy and portray our cheer. If you are all happy and cheerful when you are outside the community, then you have to reevaluate your vocation. Called to common life, we should be happy that God chose us to be part of that family. Many people in this family are hard to live with, Yes. But that is where God wants me and I should simply be happy there.
In our rule of life, we should frequently ask why we are happy. If we have any other answer apart from GOD, then we better check our faith. We might have other gods who provide us with security and joy. We should be witnesses of happiness, happiness based on the sense of belonging. “We are sons and daughters of a Father who thinks of us more than we can ever think of ourselves.” We are together so that we can make an experience of blessedness and serenity. How do you contribute to that? If you are given a chance, would you make the same choice in your life?
Conclusion
Padre Chiesa, wrote a very touching reflection: “A sister who does not have a religious spirit is like an artist, who recites a part that does not belong to her… she simply displays a sense of disgust, of bad humor, of fatigue and cold relationships.
She does not have a transparent and clear grace, she lacks appeal and this makes her appear a total contradiction of religious life. A capacity for joy, is according to me, a very radical indication of a cottolengo follower.
In the Kingdom to come, perfect love will have cast out all fear, and love will be full of joy, and joy will be full of love. In the meantime, why don’t you pray for a greater capacity for joy? You may discover that acts of love come much more easily. What have you got to lose anyway? Give it a trial!
Introduction
A debate concerning the relevance of religious life in the world today arises frequently. This kind of debate is very much found in the environment of secularism and opulence [riches]. In the circles of the poor and middle class, people do not question the validity of religious life: they embrace it, they laud it, they desire it, and actually they seek for it.
One can easily see why. Religious life is synonymous with charity, selflessness, self-giving, and concern. I mean, it is synonymous to virtues. In fact, charity is defined in different ways but always retaining the sense of gratuitouness. “True charity is the desire to be useful to others without thought of recompense,”Emanuel Swedenborg. “Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows,” Moliere.
So, therefore, cottolengo followers cannot just look at charity as their distinguishing character. There must be something in the way of living this religious calling as cottolengo followers, which makes it different from how the other religious families live their own. I want to suggest my feelings about it: Capacity for Joy.
Capacity for Joy
Charles Williams wrote of a character in one of his novels: “her incapacity for joy admitted fear, and fear had imposed separation. She knew now that all acts of love are the measure of capacity for joy; its measure and its preparation, whether the joy comes or delays.” I’ve never heard before that acts of love are the measure of capacity for joy, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it, but perhaps you’ll permit me here to think aloud just a bit.
First of all, it seems clear enough that where there is no joy it will be easy for fear to fill that void. Fear always imposes some sort of separation from what is feared (if only a hoped-for separation). Such a separation will not only refuse to admit joy, but love as well, since love is about union, not separation.
But what about love and joy? What about the capacity for joy as the basis for acts of love? There is certain good sense to this, since joyless love would be something of a contradiction in terms. Perhaps a capacity for joy is a capacity for life, the abundant life that Jesus came to give. So if we are walking in the Holy Spirit and trying to live the Gospel of Jesus, to live is to love, and to love is to rejoice.
But are acts of love always carried out in joy? Often enough, to love is to suffer (or to sacrifice, anyway), and the personal cost of acts of true love can be quite high. God is love and wants to teach us to love as He does, that is, sacrificially. "Offer spiritual sacrifices..." (1Peter 2:5). "Such sacrifices are pleasing to God" (Hebrews 13:16). Loving is giving, offering oneself for the sake of another. Pope John Paul II said that it is only in the gift of ourselves that we discover ourselves and the meaning of our lives. Williams didn’t say, however, that “feeling happy” is the basis for acts of love, but a “capacity for joy.” Joy has to find room to dwell within us, like peace, which may dwell at a very deep and almost imperceptible level. The feeling of joy may “come or delay,” but in order to be able to act with love, we must be able to rejoice. True joy - which is not the same thing as the experience of pleasure or of other things we have been taught to associate with happiness -is really more akin to true love than we may have thought.
St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo
“Serve the poor cheerfully. Joy has never ruined sanctity.” “Charity, and no fear. Go ahead in the Lord!” “Take courage. Be happy and think it is beautiful to give yourself to help your brothers.”
In our rule of life, daily examen should include a look into how I have served the poor. Grumpy looks in the community and in the service take away the value of our service. How have your spent your day today?
In our rule of life, we should also evaluate what made us loose our cheer. If we loose our cheer because of selfish stands and pride, then it is a sin. If we loose our cheer because someone has truly wronged us, we should mend that quickly. It is unchristian/inhuman to keep a grudge with someone. That means any acts of charity done are from the hands and not from the heart, the seat of feelings and faith.
In our rule of life, we should also see when we feel happy and portray our cheer. If you are all happy and cheerful when you are outside the community, then you have to reevaluate your vocation. Called to common life, we should be happy that God chose us to be part of that family. Many people in this family are hard to live with, Yes. But that is where God wants me and I should simply be happy there.
In our rule of life, we should frequently ask why we are happy. If we have any other answer apart from GOD, then we better check our faith. We might have other gods who provide us with security and joy. We should be witnesses of happiness, happiness based on the sense of belonging. “We are sons and daughters of a Father who thinks of us more than we can ever think of ourselves.” We are together so that we can make an experience of blessedness and serenity. How do you contribute to that? If you are given a chance, would you make the same choice in your life?
Conclusion
Padre Chiesa, wrote a very touching reflection: “A sister who does not have a religious spirit is like an artist, who recites a part that does not belong to her… she simply displays a sense of disgust, of bad humor, of fatigue and cold relationships.
She does not have a transparent and clear grace, she lacks appeal and this makes her appear a total contradiction of religious life. A capacity for joy, is according to me, a very radical indication of a cottolengo follower.
In the Kingdom to come, perfect love will have cast out all fear, and love will be full of joy, and joy will be full of love. In the meantime, why don’t you pray for a greater capacity for joy? You may discover that acts of love come much more easily. What have you got to lose anyway? Give it a trial!
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