The Gospel Should be Joyful

Here is a great read from Archbishop Timothy Dolan in Sunday’s New York Daily News. Using Evangelii Gaudium as a base, he encourages Christians to be joyful this Christmas season. The article is great, but it gets special mention here because of the Teilhard de Chardin reference 🙂

What’s the Latin word for “sourpuss”? You got me. But that’s the expression Pope Francis uses in his recent letter on The Joy of the Gospel. It has to be the first time that word’s been used in a papal document!

Crabby, whining, frowning people — sourpusses! — according to Pope Francis, are in contradiction to belief.

If we have faith that all is in God’s loving, providential hands; that, as the Bible teaches, “all will work out for the good for those who believe,” a sense of quiet joy would then characterize our days. As Stephen Colbert remarked at Fordham University, “My sense of humor comes from my hope, because I believe God’s in charge, and all will work out. So, I can laugh!” Sure, there will be concerns, trials, and heartaches, at times nonstop, and these can cause tears, worry and questioning.

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As the Jesuit scholar Pierre Teilhard de Chardin observed, “Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.”

Merry Christmas to All!