I wonder why the Prophecy of Isaiah in the First Reading uses the image of “mother” to speak of God’s loving care for his people instead of the usual “father” description. Truly, maternal tenderness must be tenderness at its peak. The First Reading from Isaiah is a message of rejoicing, a prophecy of joy. The people had been through captivity and national disgrace. They had suffered a great deal having repeatedly violated God’s covenant but now God has restored Jerusalem and has extended prosperity to her like an ever-flowing river.
The “Collect” or “Opening Prayer” of today’s mass says: “O God…fill your faithful with holy joy…” There is a great joy that comes from having a deep relationship with God. Isaiah tells the People of Israel that they shall be nursed and comforted by God, leaving them with a sense of peace, security, joy and comfort. With the Messiah’s coming, joy will fill the new Jerusalem, that is, the Church, God’s people. Isaiah’s prophecy about the sign of the messianic times focuses on the joy of the spirit. The message of joy in Isaiah’s prophecy is re-echoed in the Responsorial psalm as the Psalmist invites all the earth to “cry out with joy to God…”
Today’s Gospel recounts the experience of the seventy-two disciples who were sent by Our Lord Jesus Christ “as lambs among wolves” with the mission to evangelize, to bring joy and to sow peace to every town and place he intended to visit, for the Kingdom of God was at hand. Bringing souls closer to Christ, preaching his Gospel and sowing peace in our surroundings all lead to interior joy. Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come that they might have life, and have it in abundance.” It is God himself who gives us joy, peace and the oil of gladness as his children.
Christian joy, gladness and peace are essential ingredients of the Christian faith because they come from hearing the Good news and proclaiming it to others. When the seventy two returned full of gladness that “the demons were subject to them”, Jesus tells them to shift their focus. He tells them not to rejoice in this. Our Lord Jesus Christ insisted that the real motive of joy and happiness is the assurance of one’s salvation and not the efficient fruits of one’s apostolate. Dear friends, people can be glad for the wrong reasons and find joy in the wrong things. And so, what is more important than just rejoicing and rejoicing is to examine the foundation of our joy. Why do you rejoice? Our Lord made his disciples understand that their joy was not resting on the right foundation.
He says to them, “Rejoice, rather, because your names are written in heaven.” But no one can hope to have their names written in heaven if here on earth they are constantly at war with their consciences. St. John Bosco tells us that even in this world we can never be truly happy unless we are at peace with God. And this peace with God that he speaks of is peace of conscience. There is no surer foundation of true joy. When your conscience is at peace, even in the midst of life’s many troubles, the inner man is ever tranquil. But without this peace, even in the midst of plenty and luxury, there is misery. It is important that we remind ourselves of this, dearly beloved, because there are so many people who are unhappy.
There are so many people who are carrying the almost unbearable burden of guilt and regret and cannot truly rejoice as we are called to today. You may be one of those people, sometimes even without realising it. Nobody has a dead conscience. Our conscience is God’s voice in us and so it cannot die. What happens actually is that we become deaf and are no longer able to hear the judgement our conscience pronounces on our actions and choices. The more we chase happiness without God, my friends, the deeper we plunge ourselves into the ocean of unhappiness.
And so today, let us dive deep into our souls and search ourselves in the presence of God to find out if truly we have Christian joy: that joy that comes from knowing that our names are written in heaven; that joy that comes from the assurance that despite the difficulties we face, because we are faithful to the Lord, because we try to do His Will, He will never abandon us. Today the Lord is asking us not to rejoice in our wealth, in our fame, in our privileges, in our intelligence or in our beauty, if in possessing all these things we lose Him and lose eternal life. Jesus sent out the seventy two to proclaim the Kingdom. By virtue of our Baptism, all of us are called to do the same: to be sowers of peace and joy and to preach the Good News handed to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, St. Paul teaches us in the Second Reading that this interior joy that we speak of is not reached without the cross. Peace and joy are fruits of the cross, of the interior struggle to live the Christian life faithfully. Paul was able to boast not because of what he had done, but because of what God had done in and through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Embrace the cross, it will not crush you. With Jesus on our side, we must live each day rejecting all that is incompatible with the life of Christ. We will surely be blessed and filled with joy if we strive to live the life of Christ.
And if we persevere till the end through God’s grace, we shall possess the never-ending joy, peace and happiness which God has reserved for those who are faithful to Him. Dear friends, despite all our troubles and trials, let us live our lives showing forth the joy of the Lord which is our strength (cf. Neh. 8:10). May we experience the satisfying power of God’s presence in us always and may He give us His peace and joy. Amen. Happy Sunday!
