Smile and laugh today!
ONE of the best gifts I have ever received is the picture of the laughing Christ. I look at it often to remind myself that Jesus must have laughed a lot. Otherwise, He could have easily despaired when confronted with human misery, the hardness of heart of his disciples, the stinging arrogance of the Pharisees, the betrayal of His closest friends, and the prospect of His own horrible suffering and death on the cross.
Jesus epitomized the most successful theory in advertising: “The medium is the message.” His message is not joy plus other things. He preached joy by BEING joy.
Christian joy, unlike that of Buddhists, does not come from an attitude of passive resignation. Nor is it the frenzied enthusiasm of the fanatic activist who dreams of building a future world by overthrowing the established order.
Both joys arise from a negation of the present. The Buddhist negates it in order to escape into an altered form of consciousness; the zealot negates it in order to focus his attention on the future. Both are forms of escapism.
Christians are not escape artists. A true Christian courageously faces the present. This is perhaps why Jesus repeatedly invites his listeners to be childlike and to be fearless in loving. Children and lovers are the most joyful human beings. The children, because in their simplicity, they give themselves to the present in total abandon. The lovers, because they see life’s reversals and disappointments as nothing compared with the security of being loved. Joy is the first fruit of love.
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that joy is habitual cheerfulness that allows us to take pleasure in fun, wit, childlike playfulness, humor, and laughter, even in the midst of difficulties, trials, and adversity. Yes, joy lies “cheek to cheek” with the deepest sorrow, and we cannot appreciate one without experiencing the other.
St. Thomas reminds us that sometimes, our morbid fear of suffering can itself be a cause of unhappiness. Habituated to comfort and security, we look at every problem as a killjoy, avoiding it at all cost, thereby weakening our endurance. The slightest discomfort becomes excruciating.
Christianity is not a way to flee from pain. It teaches us to live by faith which allows us to see meaning even in the most desperate situations in life. As Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: “If you have a WHY, you can bear any HOW.
Nowadays, it is easier to frown than to smile. All the readings in today’s Mass contain the same urgent message: “It is now, more than ever, that we need to be positive and joyful people.” One of Apo Hiking Society’s songs is a good meditation piece today:
Kung ang problema o suliranin ay lagi mong didibdibin,
Tatanda kang bigla, pag tumulo ang luha, hahaba ang iyong mukha, At ikaw ang siyang kawawa. Smile and laugh today. He who laughs, lasts. Laughter serves as a solid wall against which the sadness that engulfs our world will smash itself to pieces. Let us discard our cynical faces, lest we forget what faces are for.