The ninth and final in a novena of Easter Letters— meditations for Easter People
Easter 2010
May the God of HOPE fill you with all JOY and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
When someone returns from a mission―
to the grocery store to look for a missing ingredient, or
to a prospective employer to look for a new job, or
to a bookstore to look for a rare book―
we often ask, "Any luck?"
By contrast, the British often ask, "Any joy?"
"Any luck?" suggests a world of chance where the person's goal is paramount.
"Any joy?" suggests a world of providence where the person's deepest delight is paramount.
At the Last Supper Jesus said to his disciples,
"When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come.
"But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.
"So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you" (John 16:21-22).
And on that first Easter Evening, the promised joy was realized when
"Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.'
"After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord" (John 20:19-20).
We feel JOY for a present reality; we feel HOPE for a future reality.
St. Peter puts it this way,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
"By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God" (1 Peter 1:3-5a).
The Resurrection is at once the source of our present JOY and our future HOPE.
As St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica:
"We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ . . . for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 1:2-6).
Together Peter and Paul reveal a great mystery:
Because we have been born into a living HOPE for a future reality through the resurrection of the dead, we can feel JOY even when the present reality is filled with persecutions and problems.
Any JOY? Yes, because our HOPE is a resurrection HOPE!
Any HOPE? Yes, because our JOY is a resurrection JOY!
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