Spark joy this Easter

​As a practising Catholic, one thing has always puzzled me.

If we have the Good News, and it’s celebrated every day in the Mass, why do so many Catholics have such dour expressions? In church and in our daily lives.

Where has the joy gone?

It’s a question I’ve often pondered and one that I was able to reflect on quite extensively at the recent God Squad men’s conference at St. Peter’s Church in Calgary after guest speaker Bishop McCaig of Ottawa brought it up in one of his presentations.

I wanted to learn more, so I sought out the Bishop of the Military Ordinariate of Canada to get his thoughts and shed some light on this conundrum I have not been able to figure out for years.

During his homily at the Friday, night mass to kick off the men’s weekend conference - Be Not Afraid To Be A Saint - Bishop McCaig spoke about how anger, hatred and bitterness are deadly when they get rooted in someone’s heart. Those feelings and emotions strangle the individual and kill the word of God within us.

Bishop McCraig from Ottawa. Photo: St. Peter's, Calgary.

So why is that joy lacking in so many Catholics and Christians these days?

“I think there’s a couple of reasons. One is the climate that we’re in. Many faithful Catholics feel sort of in a siege mentality. So much of the world has changed around us so quickly. We’re a post Christian culture, so our faith, our mission, our morality is being challenged left, right and centre. So it’s very difficult,” said Bishop McCaig when I spoke with him. “That’s why I spoke of the temptation that we have to overcome to lose our joy and lose our charity in the midst of the struggle. But ultimately joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Joy is deeper than happiness. Happiness is transitory. I can be happy one minute and unhappy the next minute. I’m driving to work, and my truck breaks down. I’m not very happy. But joy is deeper. 

“Joy is something that the circumstances of life can’t take away. Joy is something that flows from the deep knowledge of being known and loved and forgiven and blessed and anointed by God - of living in the grace of God. That comes from the Holy Spirit. That’s something we can’t manufacture. That’s something that we can’t even choose to have. We can choose however to expose ourselves to it by a life of deep prayer. I think you will find that the kind of joy the Lord speaks, which the world cannot take from us, is the product of someone who spends time with the Scriptures in prayer, with the the Lord personally. Spends time before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration, prays the Rosary, goes to Mass whenever they can. Is living deeply and from the heart that relationship with the Lord.”

But it’s ironic that despite the Good News many people still don’t have a joyful disposition. 

“Pope Francis said it beautifully early on in his pontificate. We don’t need pickle faced Christians,” explained Bishop McCaig. “That says it all. Why is it that we’re going to the highest act of worship - the summit and sacrifice of life on earth in the Mass - and our visages look like we’re going to a funeral? It’s really a question of the reception of the Good News. Many of us have received the faith at one level - at an intellectual level. We believe it’s true. But I think God wants a lot more than that. He wants us to receive it deeply. He wants us to experience it. He wants us to come into a relationship with Him. And that’s why we have so many programs that are specifically designed to take us beyond the beginning stages into a deeper love of relationship.”

Wise words from a wise man - something I will remind myself of when I too find myself heading down that dour path. As Catholics and Christians, we truly have good reason to be joyful.

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Written by Mario Toneguzzi