Why "The Glory Days": Behind St. Mary's Welcome Week

Why "The Glory Days"?

Here at St. Mary's, we really searched our hearts long and hard for this welcome week and semester's theme.  We went through a lot of silly moments as we racked our brains, but in the end God spoke through our crazy thoughts and gave us "The Glory Days."

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A Definition:
We have always heard the phrase that high school consists of your glory days, but what about college?  It's the first time you're really out on your own without your parent's supervision.  It basically means (in a captive's free terms): eating whatever you want, staying out as late as you want, and doing whatever you want.  We all figured college was a little more in the light than high school.

But what does that mean for us at St. Mary's?  We're always talking about freedom, but does itreally mean doing whatever we want, whenever we want?  Yes, college is the taste of freedom for any young adult, but the full grasp of it is in Christ alone.  So our theme is "The Glory Days" for the Glory that we are seeking.  For those days that we can taste here on earth, but knowing the banquet is in Heaven.

Behind the Words:
If you notice, in the banner is an asterix that goes to Matt. 10:6-7 which says, "Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  As you go, make this proclaimation: 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"  There were about a million verses similar to this one we could have chosen, but this one felt right.  It's under the great commissioning of the apostles and it tells us, basically, we must take up the glory that God has given each of us and seek more lost souls.

To some Catholics, this can seem a little intense, especially if it's taken the wrong way; we seem to like staying behind our own walls sometimes.  But if we really dive into scripture, we see it is a message of hope and Love.  Jesus tells us constantly "Do not be afraid," and we think it's time to finally take that advice.  If we claim to know truth, then why aren't we spreading it?

Which brings up JPII's quote: Do not be afraid to go out into the streets...like the first apostles.  If that's not GLORY, we don't know what is!  We must respond the call, we don't have to succeed.  But we MUST respond.

The Great College-Mission:
So, this welcome week, this semesters, this year, this ministry is fully responding to the Call, and we're calling it the "Great College-Mission."  We know it'll be hard, we're promised that (Matt. 10:16), but we know we must try.  We will go out into the sidewalks and onto our college campus to find God.  Keep us in your prayers.  We need them!

God bless and Mary keep,
St. Mary's Interns

If you would like to help us in our mission, please consider becoming a donor at St. Mary's Catholic Campus Ministry! Thank you so much. Every little bit helps!

Running with Purpose: Finding God on the Beaten Path

I run. Well, we all run at one point.  We run to the grocery story, we run to our classes we just can’t seem to wake up for on time, and we run away from things when we’re scared (especially during a good game of tag).  But I run for a living.  Running is not a particularly popular way of life; though it suffers from fads and potential takers, it’s rarely as loved as it should be.  But I run.  And I love it.  I love that moment when my Nikes touch the concrete, and it’s as if all is right in the world.  Like I can do anything as long as I keep running.

Running Out of Options

Since I started cross-country for SFA, my running hasn’t exactly gone as planned.  I haven’t seen the improvement I want or should be having. My training last fall especially seemed to be going backward instead of forward, and nothing was right.  A lot of times, I was close to up and quitting.  I kept telling myself just to hang on a little longer, that it would get better. I told myself to keep working, to keep trying, but when my first indoor meet came in January, it wasn’t any better. I ran worse than I had the year before, and I didn’t get another chance to race again that season. I was upset and so tired of working for, what seemed like, nothing.

Finally, it got to the point where I was just sick of being upset and stressed. So, I turned to prayer. I prayed about what I should do: quitting the SFA team or sticking it out. And I did what all of us do (again, at one point in our lives): I asked God to send me a sign, preferably one that was clear - ha. I told myself I would keep trying my hardest, and if my workouts didn’t start showing even a slight improvement in the next month, then I would consider not running anymore.

Fighting the Good Fight

On one of the days following, a teammate and I were cooling down after a workout, and I ended up telling her about my situation.  She responded with something I completely forgot (believe it or not), but I know its impact was huge.  I knew God was telling me to keep trying for just a little bit longer.  Sign received.

My running started improving bit by bit each day, as did my praying. Each workout was a little better than the last, and for once, I was excited with what my body could do. My outdoor track season didn’t end exactly the way I wanted it to, but I was blessed with one great race, where I ran a personal record faster than I ever thought I could. Things don’t always come easy, RUNNING doesn’t ever come easy, but trials are a part of life, and in the end, it will be worth it.

Learning the ABC’s of Faith

 I’ve wondered a lot why God didn’t just make things get better right away. I’ve realized that if He had, I wouldn’t have learned that His timing is perfect. I wouldn’t have learned to trust Him. In Romans 5: 3-4, Paul tells us we should rejoice during hard times and troubles; that “we can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us - they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation.” I couldn’t just leave everything up to God. He gave me the talent of running and blessed me with the opportunity to be on the team at SFA, but it is my responsibility to use all He has given and glorify Him with what I do.  As long as I trust in God, I know I can trust myself.

I could have given up.  On running, myself, even God.  But I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere.  I learned during hard times to find comfort in God. That in the end everything will be ok. It’s easy to be mad at God when things aren’t going my way. It’s hard to thank Him for everything that is going on in my life, especially the bad things, but that is what I have to do. Everything that has happened in my life has made me who I am and everything happens for a reason, so each day I really try to thank God for everything, good and bad, that helped me get to where I am now. Through all my ups and downs with running, I have learned so much more about myself and grown stronger in my faith.

Why I Run

This summer, I’ve been getting up to run around 6 AM before it gets too hot.  I don’t like the getting up.  I don’t like leaving the warmth of my bed and stepping onto the cold floor.  I think it’s ridiculous that it’s still dark as I brush my teeth while the rest of the world gets to sleep on.  It even takes a few steps into the run sometimes to make the grumbling in my brain cease.  To remind myself why I run.  It isn’t until I feel the light from the sky hit my skin that I remember.  Every morning, I get to watch the sunrise.  I get to see it spill over the rooftops of houses and color the trees into life.  I get to feel it’s first rays before anyone else.  Like it was meant for me all along.  That’s why I run.

I don’t do it to feel better about myself or my body (though it helps).  I don’t do it it because it’s my "me" time.  Or because I feel free.  I don’t do it for the time to think. I don’t do it for the hurt, the good kind, the kind your body thrives on.  I don’t do it because it’s exhilarating, especially on a good run.  I do it because it makes me happy.  I do it because on those days when runs don't feel good at all, God is especially present in the beauty around me: in the birds’ morning songs and the blossom of a flower and the flutter of a butterfly.  Not everyday is going to be easy or the best.  But that’s why He gave us a million beautiful gifts to enjoy, or to take for granted in a lot of my cases.

I have had lots of tough times in running, but I love it – running, not the tough times.  I couldn’t live without it.  I was made to run.  God blessed me with these running legs, so I’ll try my best to glorify Him through it. Yeah, it will suck sometimes, but, as C.S. Lewis says, “God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.” I know running isn’t for everyone, but it is for me.

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will RUN and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Amanda Walters I have a hard time choosing favorites out of the things I love, but God and the Love He shows me every day is my number one.  I love spending time with my family and friends, and I habitually look on the bright side of life, trying to see the best in everyone.  I believe music, running and laughing give you a good long life, and that books can take you to another world.  I'm an Elementary Education major who can't wait to see what God has planned for my future. If you would like to contact Amanda, you can email her at: kiwiw_2012@yahoo.com

Our Bodies: A Gift Worth More

How many times have I been sitting in church, listening to the homily, and felt like there was a burning spotlight right above me? If I had a nickel for every time, I could buy St. Mary's Chapel new carpet…I'll say that much.  It's as if our soul and body were fighting a war, our soul all along knowing that we would only be hurt in the end, writhing in our own guilt and self-degradation. However, our body won, and the Devil proved that the apple is still being eaten, that the fall of man happens every day.

There's the trick. We have been convinced that the flesh is evil, that our bodies don't want God. Our souls are separate entities that thirst for the fresh springs of God, while our bodies thirst for the polluted waters of the world.

The truth is that our bodies want God, too.  We’re reminded in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 when Paul says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

The Price and Our Priceless Gift

Okay, I get really super duper excited talking about the Theology of the Body!  Usually, what makes sense in my head comes out of my mouth sounding like utter nonsense. I hardly know where to start, but I'm giving it a shot. Here goes...

One of the turning points in my understanding of Theology of the Body was when I was on the TOBET (Theology of the Body Evangelization Team) retreat.  We were having a discussion about Christ's marriage with His church.  While hanging upon the cross, naked and His arms outstretched, He proclaimed, "It is finished."  What was finished?

The consummation of His marriage with His bride, the Church. In that moment, when Christ was in the vulnerable state of nakedness without shame, He gave His body for us, just as a husband and wife give their bodies to each other in marriage. This was the first in a string of theological parallels between Church doctrine and sexuality.  Woah!  Mind BLOWN, right?!

Just to name a few of my favorites...at Easter, the priest dips the Easter candle into the baptismal fount. You know the part I’m talking about.  The one where you thought you got a great seat until the priest moved to the back of the church, and you can barely see over the heads of people around you? Yeah, that’s the one. In this celebration of His marriage vows with His Church, Christ is the priest holding the candle that plunges into the fount, which symbolizes the Church, and those that are baptized are reborn into the faith.

Another moment I love is more of an everyday experience. Prior to celebrating the Eucharist, the priest prepares the Body and Blood of Christ. The chalice has always been a symbol of female sexuality throughout all of literature, and it's in this chalice, a symbol of Christ's female counterpart, the Church, that the priest pours the wine that will later turn into Christ's blood, mixing with it water that symbolizes us, the people of his Church, and finally a piece of the bread that is now Christ's body. When we take the Body and Blood of Christ, it is the ultimate one flesh union. Does this mean that every time we partake in the Eucharist, Christ is renewing His marriage vows with us, just as a husband and wife renew their marriage vows in their sexual union? Absolutely.

Am I crazy for thinking that is utterly profound and beautiful? There's nothing sick or disturbing about it. In fact, it is only because of the lies the world has told us about sex (that it's dirty and sinful) that we think those theological sexual references seem out of place, while in reality, there's nowhere else they could belong!

Paul tells the Corinthians their bodies are temples; every church is a temple, too. Through our sexuality, our bodies, our temples, we have the ability to bring new life into the world. Likewise, the Church, the temple where we all come together as brothers and sisters, gives birth to new believers constantly.

If more of us could have such a view that sex is not sinful at all, but profound and sacred, there would be the utmost respect for the sanctity of sex in our culture. Say goodbye to promiscuity, pornography, sex jokes, overly sexualized entertainment, etc. We would hold ourselves, as well as everyone else, in highest esteem, truly seeing our sexuality for the gift it is.

Unwrapping the Gift

Society says chastity stifles us, and we “free” ourselves when we embrace our sexuality.  But society’s version of "embracing our sexuality" really means experiment and sleep around as long as it's "safe." What that world is failing to see is that we, as Christians, do free ourselves in embracing our sexuality, through finding joy in ourselves and others, celebrating our bodies for the temples they are, and "doing everything for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:33). Think of how much guilt and self-reproach we could avoid if we did everything for the glory of God!

JPII calls us all to be modern day saints "who are in the world and know how to taste the pure and nice things of the world, but who aren't of the world.

Escaping the world is not the solution.

We must realize that it is our duty to teach the world purity.  This all begins by realizing that our bodies are not prisons, but temples, and purity is the greatest glorification of, not only God, but ourselves.  Theology of the Body is not suppressing the flesh, but setting it free through purity from the world's desires.  And I believe it is the true understanding to the ultimate liberation of our bodies.

Mia Sampietro  I love every kind of cat, and I have about a million hobbies (singing, painting, piano, etc.), but I love sharing the Love of God.  I'm a dreamer that could talk forever, and there are two things in the world I'm absolutely positive about: 1) God is amazing and 2) Laughter is THE best medicine.  I am double majoring in Art History and Spanish, but my life is totally in God's hands. If you would like to contact Mia, you can email her at: sampietrme@titan.sfasu.edu

Sexy vs. Beautiful

It's summer again.
In Texas.
Everyone is wearing less to try to cool off.
So, what's a girl to do in these situations?

Check out this awesome blog on the Life Teen page by Jackie Francois about TRUE beauty and how our bodies (women's especially) are a gift.

We Are Not Made for Comfort

As Catholics, we believe that we are called to take action in our faith by doing good works and standing up for our morals, our beliefs.  This is a really great video by CC2W (Catholics Called to Witness).  It begs Catholics everywhere to truly ask: "Can I stand the test of fire?"

But...

No buts.  It says in Isaiah 48:10 that we are refined in the furnaces of affliction.  We must go through fire to be made pure and find peace in God alone.  Jesus never said it would be easy.  In fact, He reminds us in Matthew 10:22 that people will hate us because we follow him, but we will not be afraid because we will be raised up.

Now What?

It is time to truly look at ourselves, at our hearts, and see that we can stand those fires, no matter how much they burn.  God is with us.  God is able.  We just have to let Him.

"The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for GREATNESS." 

Pope Benedict XVI

Who's This Jesus Guy?

Ever wonder who Jesus REALLY is?  What he's capable of?  Wonder no more.


This is a pretty awesome video that I was shown when I was a missionary in Georgia.  The speaker is Dr. S.M. Lockridge, a minister who really knew his Bible, and had a gift for setting hearts on fire.  This is one of his more famous sermons, "Seven Way King."  Give it a chance.


*For a better viewing experience, the video will have a bigger impact on your heart in full screen mode.  Also, it's stinking cool.  :)

Step Away From the Ledge: STRESS

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

It's getting down to the wire, and people are beginning to feel (if they haven't already been feeling) the pressure.  University students everywhere are shooting up coffee, slamming their heads on library desks, and trying to cram a semester's worth of information into their heads, wondering all the while if they'll ever pass and why they decided to go to college in the first place.  It's Hail Mary time.


When Will This END?!
I am one of those students.  That scream up at the top?  Yeah, that's me, and I have a feeling every single student entering into finals just shared that moment with me.  I've been near breaking point for a few days now.  It's been a tough semester, but, and maybe this is just me, it feels like it's all peaking here.  Like it's been waiting, biding it's time.  I've been slowly climbing this mountain of work to the top, only to find myself facing Everest.  And all I can think is, "What the heck?! I just did this!" 


The theme for this semester has been, by far, STRESS!  I've been so attacked with every little thing that has to do with classes; I've had more breakdowns this semester than probably all of them put together (and being a super-duper-senior, that's a lot).  I just want to be done.  Finished.  As all the people around me become younger and younger, I feel the pressure just a little more.


How many of you have felt like this before (or are even feeling it right now)?  Uh, probably all of you.  I would even venture to say every single human being ever in existence.  Probably every person surrounding me in the library right now as I take my break are a part of that guess.


It seems like our stresses just kind of take turns, rotating on a lazy susan that goes around and around in our heads, never ending.  We keep wondering when it'll be done, if we'll ever be free from money stress, or study stress, or family stress.  These are legitimate worries, of course, but how much do they show our trust in God?


A God of Stress?
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm a worrier.  To. The. MAX.  I worried when I was a kid, and I still worry now.  Take for instance, right now: I have a huge three days ahead of me that have me crying and sweating bullets.  Yet, here I am writing a blog instead of working on my papers so I can no longer be worried.  Silly.  I know I'm not the only one with useless worries though (those are the ones we could fix, but we don't).


God speaks to us a lot through stress; maybe a better term would be that he "yells" to us.  He constantly is calling out to us, desperately desiring our hearts to rest in Him.  I know for me it's because I don't want to listen sometimes.  It's easier to worry than to give my heart away.  I want the strength without the cost.  Instead, I been torture myself with "why didn't I do this sooner" and "why was I so dumb" or lazy.  And when I do that, stress sort of becomes my god, a "god" that only makes me suffer and fearful.


The Beauty
Recently, I've fallen in love with Psalm 46.  If you've never given it a look, take out your (dusty, if you're Catholic) Bible and bookmark it.  I won't give you the whole thing, but essentially it says: God is with us, and we will not fear, though our lives are being moved.  It reminds us that with God at our side, "we cannot be moved."  Wether we feel it or not, He is with us.  Loving us.


God has given us a power; the enemy knows it, and he will never stop attacking, especially when we are weak.  But we have to remember that God lets the stress in, so it can't all be for nothing. Suffering makes us who we are.  We were promised suffering, but we were also promised light (Matt 16: 24-5; John 8:12).  We never go at it alone.  I think God allows it so that we will run to Him.  God is constantly fighting a war for us (Psalm 46:9); He fights for our hearts, and, for some of us, our sanity.  He wants to show us His glory for Love of us, and sometimes it takes beating us over the head with an exam to get a glimpse.


The Message

"Be still, and know that I am God!" Psalm 46: 10

Be still.  We forget that bit.  We are called, daily, to stop the constant worrying and stress.  We're called to be still and recognize the true God.  Leave the god of stress behind you; embrace the God of Love.  And so... I will.  I'll suck back that scream and offer it up.  I think, for once, it's time for me to stop and let Him move.  We need to get down on our knees, instead of letting them buckle beneath us from stress.


When you take a breather from your work the rest of this week, find gratitude.  It's easy to be bogged down and busy, but make time for prayer and thanksgiving.  It'll do wonders for your day.  Life's going to be hard, and sometimes, it's going to suck.  It's the greater glory in the end that will hold us up.  Step away from the ledge, and remind yourself He's got you this week and always.


I'm praying for you all (especially during finals), and please keep this worrier in your prayers as well.  Now, back to the books.  ;)  God bless and Mary keep.

Erica Trabanino                                          I'm lactose intolerant, but I love cheese (and ice cream).  I am a missionary studying Creative Writing at SFA (and multiple schools) for what seems like a million years, but I know there's a bigger plan in mind.  Mary is my homegirl, and St. John is my brotha'.  My joyful pastimes are books, laughing at silliness, random crazy dancing, and finding God in everything.  If you would like to contact Erica, you can email her at: trabanino.eri@gmail.com Want to write a blog for Catholic Lumberjacks? Contact: stmarysccm@gmail.com

The Creed: Not Just For Robots

This video was originally posted on the Aggie Catholics' blog, but it has such a great message, it really needed to be shared as far as possible.

We Have Become Robots
How many times do we just fall into our prayers mechanically?  Everyone is guilty of it.  In Theology of the Body, we learn that when we talk to someone and kind of "zone out," we're not acknowledging the person of Christ within them whole-heartedly.

So What?
It's same for Mass.  When we say what we believe, and we're not really paying attention, it sort of us ignoring the words that the Holy Spirit inspired in the Church, and then we ignore that big guy up there who Loves us.

The Challenge
The next Mass you are in, challenge yourself to be fully present; I don't just mean in the Creed.  Awake, O sleeper (Ephesians 5:14) and be a living member of the Body of Christ.

What Our Papa Has to Say About JOY

Dear young friends,

I am happy to address you once more on the occasion of the 27th World Youth Day. The memory of our meeting in Madrid last August remains close to my heart. It was a time of extraordinary grace when God showered his blessings on the young people gathered from all over the world. I give thanks to God for all the fruits which that event bore, fruits which will surely multiply for young people and their communities in the future. Now we are looking forward to our next meeting in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, whose theme will be: “Go and make disciples of all nations!” (cf. Mt 28:19).

This year’s World Youth Day theme comes from Saint Paul’s exhortation in his Letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (4:4). Joy is at the heart of Christian experience. At each World Youth Day we experience immense joy, the joy of communion, the joy of being Christian, the joy of faith. This is one of the marks of these gatherings. We can see the great attraction that joy exercises. In a world of sorrow and anxiety, joy is an important witness to the beauty and reliability of the Christian faith.

The Church’s vocation is to bring joy to the world, a joy that is authentic and enduring, the joy proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds on the night Jesus was born (cf. Lk 2:10). Not only did God speak, not only did he accomplish great signs throughout the history of humankind, but he drew so near to us that he became one of us and lived our life completely. In these difficult times, so many young people all around you need to hear that the Christian message is a message of joy and hope! I would like to reflect with you on this joy and on how to find it, so that you can experience it more deeply and bring it to everyone you meet.

OUR HEARTS ARE MADE FOR JOY

A yearning for joy lurks within the heart of every man and woman. Far more than immediate and fleeting feelings of satisfaction, our hearts seek a perfect, full and lasting joy capable of giving “flavour” to our existence. This is particularly true for you, because youth is a time of continuous discovery of life, of the world, of others and of ourselves. It is a time of openness to the future and of great longing for happiness, friendship, sharing and truth, a time when we are moved by high ideals and make great plans.

Each day is filled with countless simple joys which are the Lord’s gift: the joy of living, the joy of seeing nature’s beauty, the joy of a job well done, the joy of helping others, the joy of sincere and pure love. If we look carefully, we can see many other reasons to rejoice. There are the happy times in family life, shared friendship, the discovery of our talents, our successes, the compliments we receive from others, the ability to express ourselves and to know that we are understood, and the feeling of being of help to others. There is also the excitement of learning new things, seeing new and broader horizons open up through our travels and encounters, and realizing the possibilities we have for charting our future. We might also mention the experience of reading a great work of literature, of admiring a masterpiece of art, of listening to or playing music, or of watching a film. All these things can bring us real joy.

Yet each day we also face any number of difficulties. Deep down we also worry about the future; we begin to wonder if the full and lasting joy for which we long might be an illusion and an escape from reality. Many young people ask themselves: is perfect joy really possible? The quest for joy can follow various paths, and some of these turn out to be mistaken, if not dangerous. How can we distinguish things that give real and lasting joy from immediate and illusory pleasures? How can we find true joy in life, a joy that endures and does not forsake us at moments of difficulty?

GOD IS THE SOURCE OF TRUE JOY

Whatever brings us true joy, whether the small joys of each day or the greatest joys in life, has its source in God, even if this does not seem immediately obvious. This is because God is a communion of eternal love, he is infinite joy that does not remain closed in on itself, but expands to embrace all whom God loves and who love him. God created us in his image out of love, in order to shower his love upon us and to fill us with his presence and grace. God wants us to share in his own divine and eternal joy, and he helps us to see that the deepest meaning and value of our lives lie in being accepted, welcomed and loved by him. Whereas we sometimes find it hard to accept others, God offers us an unconditional acceptance which enables us to say: “I am loved; I have a place in the world and in history; I am personally loved by God. If God accepts me and loves me and I am sure of this, then I know clearly and with certainty that it is a good thing that I am alive”.

God’s infinite love for each of us is fully seen in Jesus Christ. The joy we are searching for is to be found in him. We see in the Gospel how the events at the beginning of Jesus’ life are marked by joy. When the Archangel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of the Saviour, his first word is “Rejoice!” (Lk 1:28). When Jesus is born, the angel of the Lord says to the shepherds: “Behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a Saviour has been born for you, who is Messiah and Lord” (Lk 2:10-11). When the Magi came in search of the child, “they were overjoyed at seeing the star” (Mt 2:10). The cause of all this joy is the closeness of God who became one of us. This is what Saint Paul means when he writes to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near” (Phil 4:4-5). Our first reason for joy is the closeness of the Lord, who welcomes me and loves me.

An encounter with Jesus always gives rise to immense inner joy. We can see this in many of the Gospel stories. We recall when Jesus visited Zacchaeus, a dishonest tax collector and public sinner, he said to him: “Today I must stay at your house”. Then, Saint Luke tells us, Zacchaeus “received him with joy” (Lk 19:5-6). This is the joy of meeting the Lord. It is the joy of feeling God’s love, a love that can transform our whole life and bring salvation. Zacchaeus decides to change his life and to give half of his possessions to the poor.

At the hour of Jesus’ passion, this love can be seen in all its power. At the end of his earthly life, while at supper with his friends, Jesus said: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love… I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete” (Jn 15:9,11). Jesus wants to lead his disciples and each one of us into the fullness of joy that he shares with the Father, so that the Father’s love for him might abide in us (cf. Jn 17:26). Christian joy consists in being open to God’s love and belonging to him.

The Gospels recount that Mary Magdalene and other women went to visit the tomb where Jesus had been laid after his death. An angel told them the astonishing news of Jesus’ resurrection. Then, the Evangelist tells us, they ran from the sepulchre, “fearful yet overjoyed” to share the good news with the disciples. Jesus met them on the way and said: “Peace!” (Mt 28:8-9). They were being offered the joy of salvation. Christ is the One who lives and who overcame evil, sin and death. He is present among us as the Risen One and he will remain with us until the end of the world (cf. Mt 28:20). Evil does not have the last word in our lives; rather, faith in Christ the Saviour tells us that God’s love is victorious.

This deep joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit who makes us God’s sons and daughters, capable of experiencing and savouring his goodness, and calling him “Abba”, Father (cf.Rm 8:15). Joy is the sign of God’s presence and action within us.

PRESERVING CHRISTIAN JOY IN OUR HEARTS

At this point we wonder: “How do we receive and maintain this gift of deep, spiritual joy?”

One of the Psalms tells us: “Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart’s desire” (Ps 37:4). Jesus told us that “the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Mt 13:44). The discovery and preservation of spiritual joy is the fruit of an encounter with the Lord. Jesus asks us to follow him and to stake our whole life on him.Dear young people, do not be afraid to risk your lives by making space for Jesus Christ and his Gospel. This is the way to find inner peace and true happiness. It is the way to live fully as children of God, created in his image and likeness.

Seek joy in the Lord: for joy is the fruit of faith. It is being aware of his presence and friendship every day: “the Lord is near!” (Phil 4:5). It is putting our trust in God, and growing in his knowledge and love. Shortly we shall begin the “Year of Faith”, and this will help and encourage us. Dear friends, learn to see how God is working in your lives and discover him hidden within the events of daily life. Believe that he is always faithful to the covenant which he made with you on the day of your Baptism. Know that God will never abandon you. Turn your eyes to him often. He gave his life for you on the cross because he loves you. Contemplation of this great love brings a hope and joy to our hearts that nothing can destroy. Christians can never be sad, for they have met Christ, who gave his life for them.

To seek the Lord and find him in our lives also means accepting his word, which is joy for our hearts. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote: “When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart” (Jer 15:16). Learn to read and meditate on the sacred Scriptures. There you will find an answer to your deepest questions about truth. God’s word reveals the wonders that he has accomplished throughout human history, it fills us with joy, and it leads us to praise and adoration: “Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord; let us kneel before the Lord who made us” (Ps 95:1,6).

The liturgy is a special place where the Church expresses the joy which she receives from the Lord and transmits it to the world. Each Sunday at Mass the Christian community celebrates the central mystery of salvation, which is the death and resurrection of Christ. This is a very important moment for all the Lord’s disciples because his sacrifice of love is made present. Sunday is the day when we meet the risen Christ, listen to his word, and are nourished by his body and blood. As we hear in one of the Psalms: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad” (Ps 118:24). At the Easter Vigil, the Church sings the Exultet, a hymn of joy for the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death: “Sing, choirs of angels! … Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour … Let this place resound with joy, echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!” Christian joy is born of this awareness of being loved by God who became man, gave his life for us and overcame evil and death. It means living a life of love for him. As Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a young Carmelite, wrote: “Jesus, my joy is loving you” (P 45, 21 January 1897).

THE JOY OF LOVE

Dear friends, joy is intimately linked to love. They are inseparable gifts of the Holy Spirit (cf.Gal 5:23). Love gives rise to joy, and joy is a form of love. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta drew on Jesus’ words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) when she said: “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls; God loves a cheerful giver. Whoever gives with joy gives more”. As the Servant of God Paul VI wrote: “In God himself, all is joy because all is giving” (Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete in Domino, 9 May 1975).

In every area of your life, you should know that to love means to be steadfast, reliable and faithful to commitments. This applies most of all to friendship. Our friends expect us to be sincere, loyal and faithful because true love perseveres even in times of difficulty. The same thing can be said about your work and studies and the services you carry out. Fidelity and perseverance in doing good brings joy, even if not always immediately.

If we are to experience the joy of love, we must also be generous. We cannot be content to give the minimum. We need to be fully committed in life and to pay particular attention to those in need. The world needs men and women who are competent and generous, willing to be at the service of the common good. Make every effort to study conscientiously, to develop your talents and to put them at the service of others even now. Find ways to help make society more just and humane wherever you happen to be. May your entire life be guided by a spirit of service and not by the pursuit of power, material success and money.

Speaking of generosity, I would like to mention one particular joy. It is the joy we feel when we respond to the vocation to give our whole life to the Lord. Dear young people, do not be afraid if Christ is calling you to the religious, monastic or missionary life or to the priesthood. Be assured that he fills with joy all those who respond to his invitation to leave everything to be with him and to devote themselves with undivided heart to the service of others. In the same way, God gives great joy to men and women who give themselves totally to one another in marriage in order to build a family and to be signs of Christ’s love for the Church.

Let me remind you of a third element that will lead you to the joy of love. It is allowing fraternal love to grow in your lives and in those of your communities. There is a close bond between communion and joy. It is not by chance that Saint Paul’s exhortation: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4) is written in the plural, addressing the community as a whole, rather than its individual members. Only when we are together in the communion of fellowship do we experience this joy. In the Acts of the Apostles, the first Christian community is described in these words: “Breaking bread in their homes, they ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart” (Acts 2:46). I ask you to make every effort to help our Christian communities to be special places of sharing, attention and concern for one another.

THE JOY OF CONVERSION

Dear friends, experiencing real joy also means recognizing the temptations that lead us away from it. Our present-day culture often pressures us to seek immediate goals, achievements and pleasures. It fosters fickleness more than perseverance, hard work and fidelity to commitments. The messages it sends push a consumerist mentality and promise false happiness. Experience teaches us that possessions do not ensure happiness. How many people are surrounded by material possessions yet their lives are filled with despair, sadness and emptiness! To have lasting joy we need to live in love and truth. We need to live in God.

God wants us to be happy. That is why he gave us specific directions for the journey of life: the commandments. If we observe them, we will find the path to life and happiness. At first glance, they might seem to be a list of prohibitions and an obstacle to our freedom. But if we study them more closely, we see in the light of Christ’s message that the commandments are a set of essential and valuable rules leading to a happy life in accordance with God’s plan. How often, on the other hand, do we see that choosing to build our lives apart from God and his will brings disappointment, sadness and a sense of failure. The experience of sin, which is the refusal to follow God and an affront to his friendship, brings gloom into our hearts.

At times the path of the Christian life is not easy, and being faithful to the Lord’s love presents obstacles; occasionally we fall. Yet God in his mercy never abandons us; he always offers us the possibility of returning to him, being reconciled with him and experiencing the joy of his love which forgives and welcomes us back.

Dear young people, have frequent recourse to the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation! It is the sacrament of joy rediscovered. Ask the Holy Spirit for the light needed to acknowledge your sinfulness and to ask for God’s forgiveness. Celebrate this sacrament regularly, with serenity and trust. The Lord will always open his arms to you. He will purify you and bring you into his joy: for there is joy in heaven even for one sinner who repents (cf. Lk 15:7).

JOY AT TIMES OF TRIAL

In the end, though, we might still wonder in our hearts whether it is really possible to live joyfully amid all life’s trials, especially those which are most tragic and mysterious. We wonder whether following the Lord and putting our trust in him will always bring happiness.

We can find an answer in some of the experiences of young people like yourselves who have found in Christ the light that can give strength and hope even in difficult situations. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925) experienced many trials during his short life, including a romantic experience that left him deeply hurt. In the midst of this situation he wrote to his sister: “You ask me if I am happy. How could I not be? As long as faith gives me strength, I am happy. A Catholic could not be other than happy… The goal for which we were created involves a path which has its thorns, but it is not a sad path. It is joy, even when it involves pain” (Letter to his sister Luciana, Turin, 14 February 1925). When Blessed John Paul II presented Blessed Pier Giorgio as a model for young people, he described him as “a young person with infectious joy, the joy that overcame many difficulties in his life” (Address to Young People, Turin, 13 April 1980).

Closer to us in time is Chiara Badano (1971-1990), who was recently beatified. She experienced how pain could be transfigured by love and mysteriously steeped in joy. At the age of eighteen, while suffering greatly from cancer, Chiara prayed to the Holy Spirit and interceded for the young people of the movement to which she belonged. As well as praying for her own cure, she asked God to enlighten all those young people by his Spirit and to give them wisdom and light. “It was really a moment of God’s presence. I was suffering physically, but my soul was singing” (Letter to Chiara Lubich, Sassello, 20 December 1989). The key to her peace and joy was her complete trust in the Lord and the acceptance of her illness as a mysterious expression of his will for her sake and that of everyone. She often said: “Jesus, if you desire it, then I desire it too”.

These are just two testimonies taken from any number of others which show that authentic Christians are never despairing or sad, not even when faced with difficult trials. They show that Christian joy is not a flight from reality, but a supernatural power that helps us to deal with the challenges of daily life. We know that the crucified and risen Christ is here with us and that he is a faithful friend always. When we share in his sufferings, we also share in his glory. With him and in him, suffering is transformed into love. And there we find joy (cf. Col1:24).

WITNESSES OF JOY

Dear friends, to conclude I would encourage you to be missionaries of joy. We cannot be happy if others are not. Joy has to be shared. Go and tell other young people about your joy at finding the precious treasure which is Jesus himself. We cannot keep the joy of faith to ourselves. If we are to keep it, we must give it away. Saint John said: “What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; we are writing this so that our joy may be complete” (1 Jn 1:3-4).

Christianity is sometimes depicted as a way of life that stifles our freedom and goes against our desires for happiness and joy. But this is far from the truth. Christians are men and women who are truly happy because they know that they are not alone. They know that God is always holding them in his hands. It is up to you, young followers of Christ, to show the world that faith brings happiness and a joy which is true, full and enduring. If the way Christians live at times appears dull and boring, you should be the first to show the joyful and happy side of faith. The Gospel is the “good news” that God loves us and that each of us is important to him. Show the world that this is true!

Be enthusiastic witnesses of the new evangelization! Go to those who are suffering and those who are searching, and give them the joy that Jesus wants to bestow. Bring it to your families, your schools and universities, and your workplaces and your friends, wherever you live. You will see how it is contagious. You will receive a hundredfold: the joy of salvation for yourselves, and the joy of seeing God’s mercy at work in the hearts of others. And when you go to meet the Lord on that last day, you will hear him say: “Well done, my good and faithful servant… Come, share your master’s joy” (Mt25:21).

May the Blessed Virgin Mary accompany you on this journey. She welcomed the Lord within herself and proclaimed this in a song of praise and joy, the Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour” (Lk 1:46-47). Mary responded fully to God’s love by devoting her life to him in humble and complete service. She is invoked as “Cause of our Joy” because she gave us Jesus. May she lead you to that joy which no one will ever be able to take away from you!

From the Vatican, 15 March 2012

Pope Benedict XVI