28 Feb 2018
Pope Francis has reminded us about the “joy of the gospel.” And there certainly is joy: joy in getting to
know the Lord, joy in sharing ourselves with him. There’s joy in allowing ourselves, as
individuals, to actually the hear the good news of the Lord, and to let it soak
into our heart and mind and body. There’s
certainly joy in being the happy recipients of the gospel.
But that joy can so quickly turn to suffering when we try to
share that gospel. Some people, as I’m
sure we all know…some people aren’t really that interested in hearing about
love, or neighborliness, or relationship with God, or goodness, truth, or
beauty, or any of what the gospel has to offer.
Even fellow Christians can turn a deaf ear to what the Lord has to say,
and what he has to offer. Our joy can
quickly turn to suffering if we try to share the gospel. Of course, that’s the cross.
But there are two sides the coin, of course. We may suffer in trying to share the joy of
the gospel with others, but…is someone trying to share the joy of the gospel
with us and we aren’t listening? Who
would think that sharing a message of love, peace, and happiness could be met
with resistance? But it happens. People can resist us, and we can resist other
people.
Of course, you can only do so much with how others react to
the gospel. But we have a lot to say
with how we ourselves react to the good news of Jesus. How do we respond to the gospel? Do we receive that joy into our hearts? Or do we cause others to suffer for the joy
that it is in theirs?
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