White Joy
Some of these thoughts come on a snowy Gaudete Sunday morning and are both for hermits and victim souls. The hermit-victimsoul sometimes trudges, other times skimlets, through the snow of suffering, of learning and growing, now within the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Then, following some of these thoughts, we share the meeting of the Servant of God, Teresa Higginson (d. 1905) but as all in the Sacred Heart, alive in death, no longer self, and desiring to be of service!
White came during the night. It thickens and brightens, blows its nothingness through and without. Hours shall pass before the hermit departs for Mass and the quiet Sacristan tasks prior.
Gaudete Sunday brings the fullness of joy. Of its own, joy is white; it is nothingness; yet we utilize the color pink. Sun shining on white makes it sometimes pink, if one stares awhile. Perhaps the eye begins to see through blood, and that make the white seem pink. Seeing through blood brings love into all, and pink is the color of love, it is said.
Joy is nothingness in the visceral sense. Most connect joy with an intellectual definition which is exemplified in emotional response to something the body and mind "like." But in its supernal nothingness, joy becomes as snow in the soul: a reaction of molecules affected by climate; tangible until touched, then melted into memory.
The hermit ponders joy, as someone who suffers has left a comment on the victim soul writings, relative to asking for joy, and in faith, in believing, the joy is given. Joy in suffering is particularly mystical. The commenter mentions having spent the second year of suffering, being silent. It was in that silence that the Lord taught her more of suffering, and also then bequeathed the joy.
Within the Sacred Heart, there is silence; there is snow; there is the nothingness of joy. No one can touch upon it without its melting into nothingness, so it is best to not attempt to grasp joy but simply to view it as a gratuitous wonder. The joy within the Sacred Heart often shows nothing--nothing emotional. Snow simply appears as a result of unseen molecular transformations under certain conditions. Such is joy.
posted by The Catholic Hermit at 7:06 AM
3 Comments:
I spent the weekend pondering this joy I speak of. I assumed that everyone who suffers has this JOY.
I truly did not realise that many do not experience joy and that it is indeed Gift of which I am most grateful.
Your posts have helped me realise this fact:).
I can add nothing to what you have so eloquently expressed..Very, very beautiful.
The only thing I can say is when a suffering soul prays for joy, believe you have received it and then LIVE it.
Peace & JOY to you:)
Marie
Marie, Yes, joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Like peace, it is an interior disposition; like peace it can go away--if the soul does not protect it and nurture it (and this by God's protection and nurturing, as all is from God.) It all seems a process, even upon receiving a gift. Some unwrap it and use it immediately, others store it on a shelf or give it away, wrapped still or also unwrapped. Not everyone asks for this gift, or when given it, bothers with it. As you write: live it. Well, that is not always so easy, for a soul must grasp joy within in order to live it, and the living of it is often not visible to others in an emotional or active sense. As you know better than most and better than I, joy can be as elusive and simple as a glance of the eye when the pain is too great to speak; it can also come out in a grunt of anguish, for joy resides deep within. I suppose for those who have varying degrees of suffering, the joy can be more visible, and this is so beautiful as a witness.
There can be joy in a person's last exhale on the deathbed.
Is it true that joyful people can perceive joy about them more than people who have little joy within? What are blocks to joy? Is fatigue a hindrance, or can one simply delight in even the obstacles to any "feeling" of joy? Perhaps joy is most often wrapped inside the blanket of peace, and it is the peace (the surrender and acceptance) that is seen by others.
Thanks, Marie! You fertilize the thoughts!
In my experience joy has little to do with feelings but is always a choice.
For instance when I am in deep pain I never feel anger towards God if anything my heart ever more reaches out to Him to strengthen me.
It is something that is deep within the soul where irrespective of one's condition it is just there.
It is not smiling through life, it is deeper than that. It is also not optimism. It is Spirit. A Gift of God but it is there for all, not just a few.
In order to receive one must ask first and upon asking believe one has received it and joy will fill your soul even in the midst of pain.
I see the Hand of God in all aspects of my life even through adversities and I pay little heed to satan. Everything to me is Gift. Adversity helps me to persevere. The loss of a loved one teaches me to understand that life is short, always put God first. The fickleness of friends teaches me that I too am fickle and it is in God who remains our Tower of Strength. Pain is our leveller where we face...ourselves.
Alone..lost..dark....fearful....where night becomes a terrifying experience...Pain makes us vulnerable, it takes away our need to control it reveals our own woundedness & weakness..and in the awful darkness of the night we cry out to ABBA who comforts the afflicted, even though one has no sense of Him.
It is to trust in God's Word and hold Sacred His promise to never leave us.
In the end it is the knowledge that we are nothing and that God is all.
It is prayer that will move God's Heart that is why a suffering soul should pray much. Even pain is Gift if we have the 'eye's' to see it.
Thankyou Zenith for your wonderful reflections.
Peace & JOY to you:)
Marie
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