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Your Turn / Re: Christ Is Risen!
« on: April 12, 2020, 09:22:56 PM »
I wonder how we are defining joy. Is it returning to a life we had just about four weeks ago? Attending church, visiting friends, grocery shopping, school? I'm not convinced that's the joy one finds with Easter. Some Easters are difficult. The Easter after 9/11 was particularly hard. Today I shed a lot of tears as I watched services at my church and then at my husband's to find that the Mass was given in his memory. I may not feel what the world might define as joyful, I am joy-filled; I am content. Like so many of you I'm restricted in my movements about town and even to not having people in my home. Just today someone asked if I was going crazy. I'm not. I'm content. The reading from John, singing "Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds" and "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" brought joy. Even though I was singing alone I knew the members of my congregation were singing with me. That gives me a sense of peace, again, contentment. People are definitely suffering. Jobs have been lost. I wonder about those for whom this isolation is exacerbating an already difficult situation - people in abusive relationships, those who suffer from addiction. People on the front lines are staying in hotels, free of charge, as they are afraid to go home to their families. And yet, in the midst of this we're still able to say, "Christ is Risen." We live in the assurance of those words and we may not always seem giddy with joy certainly we have contentment and peace.