Homily: Thursday - 6th Week of Easter 2016 - Grief transformed into joy

40 days ago, we celebrated the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus on Easter Sunday.  And 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus ascended to the right hand of his Father in heaven.  Traditionally, the Feast of the Ascension, a holy day of obligation, was celebrated today.  It still is in several dioceses throughout the world. 

In the rest of the dioceses of the United States, the celebration of the Ascension has been transferred to the following Sunday.  It is still a holy day of obligation because every Sunday is a holy day of obligation.

In the Gospel today, Jesus speaks of a grief that will be transformed into joy.  They would grieve, they would experience sorrow due to his departure, his Ascension into heaven. But he tells them, not to worry, their grief would be transformed into joy when the Holy Spirit came into their hearts.

Grief is a common experience for us, while here on earth.  We grieve the loss of our loved ones when they die, we grieve over our own declining health. The old saying goes, “grieve because it is human, hope because it is Christian.” Jesus in the beatitudes even says, “blessed are those who grieve, for they will be comforted”.  Grieving can become holy, a blessed thing, when in our grief, we turn to God. Grieving can open us up to the new vista of joy, when in our grief, we open up our hearts more deeply to the promises of God. Grief over a loved one can be transformed into hope, to be reunited with them in eternity.

So the apostles’ grief over the Savior’s departure, would be transformed into joy, as the held to the promise of the Holy Spirit. The true joy that comes from the Holy Spirit goes deeper than the fleeting emotions we know so well. Because God is with the Church perpetually in the person of the Holy Spirit, we can know joy even when we are suffering. God’s love is greater than all of our earthly trials, so no one can take true Christian joy away from us.

The only way we can lose our joy is by neglecting prayer, ignoring repentance, growing lax in our study of scripture, and turning away from the cries of the poor. I think so many of our adult Catholics leave the faith because they really never experienced the true joy of our faith, they never really opened their hearts to God’s gifts. Similarly, I think many people become stuck in grief because they do not surrender to God’s transforming love as they should.

During this month of may, we do well to consider the example of our Blessed Mother.  Though she was a mother of sorrows, a sword of grief piercing her heart, we know that she too received the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. She shows us that the sorrowful heart brought to God can still be a house for his presence.

Tomorrow is nine days until Pentecost.  And we would do well to begin a Pentecost novena, to dispose ourselves—to open our hearts, like Mary and the Apostles,—to that great gift of the Holy Spirit, that all of our grief may be turned into joy for the glory of God and salvation of souls.