Lesson from Fr. Paulus | Routine: The Obstacle to Christian Joy

Today is "Laetare Sunday" [(lay-TAH-ray) the Sunday in which the entrance antiphon of the liturgy begins with the word "laetare"]. "Laetare" means "rejoice". Midway through our Lenten journey towards Christ's Passion and Resurrection, the Church invites us to rejoice.

But Christian joy is different than normal joy. Normal joy goes away, because the things that cause it - like basketball championships and snow days - go away. But Christian joy is based on something that never goes away: friendship with Christ.

Loving Christ and being loved by him - that's friendship with Christ. And it doesn't change with the seasons. He is always faithful. This explains why Christians can sing hymns inside concentration camps, because prisons can't take away Christ's love.

That's the kind of joy the Church invites us to renew today. And we do need to renew it. Most of us, if we're honest, have to admit that we don't always feel that joy. Why not? What's the obstacle? We have faith, that's why we're here. We believe Christ loves us. So why don't we experience Christian joy more deeply, more constantly?

The obstacle to Christian joy is routine. It's falling into routine in our relationship with God.

That's what happened to the younger son in the parable. He went looking for joy in all the wrong places, because he got tired of living with his dad. He became self-centered, and that made him bored. That's exactly what happens to us when we go looking for happiness in sin, in disobedience to God's will.

The older son also lost sight of his father's goodness. He let the routine of life embitter his heart. He forgot that his father was actually giving him everything.

Sometimes we do the same thing: on the outside we are good Catholics, but on the inside, we are angry and critical, because we're just going through the motions. We have let the fire go out of our friendship with Christ. Routine in our relationship with God is the obstacle to our experiencing Christian joy.

A Practical Routine Breaker

Lent is all about breaking out of the routine in our relationship with Christ.

He has so much more he wants to give us, so much he wants to do in our lives and through our lives. Above all, he wants us to experience the profound and constant joy that only a deep, dynamic, personal friendship with Christ can give. He wants to give that to the world through us.

Today, let's ask God to give us the grace we need to break out of our routines, and to help others who may not be here today do the same. But let's also resolve to do something to welcome that grace.

One easy way to do something is to go out of our way for someone every day this week.

We can go out of our way to help someone in little things - like giving up the better parking space, or taking time to actually find information for someone instead of just pointing them to the website.

We can also go out of our way to help someone in bigger things, like taking the family to visit a sick relative in the hospital or the nursing home, or inviting the new family in the neighborhood over for a welcome dinner, or volunteering your most precious resource - time... [Here you can mention local ministries or service opportunities].

When we go out of our way for someone, we show them some of God's goodness.

And through those efforts, God will be able to reach out to the many prodigal sons and daughters who are afraid to come home. And if God is working so closely and powerfully through us, it will also help renew our own friendship with Christ.

When we receive Christ in Holy Communion, let's renew that friendship, ask for the grace of Christian joy, and promise to do something to help others and ourselves see God in a fresh way, as he really is, and feel his joyful embrace again.