Mt 9:14-17 The Bride and The Groom

Saturday of the Thirteenth Week In Ordinary Time

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The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?”  Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?”

Pope Francis recently tweeted that “A Christian is never bored or sad.  Rather, the one who loves Christ is full of joy and radiates joy.”  Of course many shot back (from the hip) insisting that this was impossible and that the Holy Father didn’t know what he was talking about. 

I wrote something similar to the Holy Father’s message a while back, and many people didn’t seem to get it either.  They still don’t get it.  They confuse sadness with sorrow.

A while back, I wrote the following (September 15^th, 2010):  “Sadness is caused by a self-inflicted wound.  Sorrow is caused by a wounded friend.  Sadness fills our hearts when we drown in our own pain.  Sorrow fills our hearts when we experience the pain felt by others.    Sadness reaches out to close the door. Sorrow reaches out to open the door.  Sadness is caused by one’s own sins.  Sorrow is caused by the sins of others.”

Both are emotions.  Both are very real.  Can a Christian never be sad? Yes, but it requires a tremendous amount of faith.

Can the wedding guests mourn?  How can we mourn?  How can we be sad?  How can we forget?  Let’s never forget!  This must have been the promise the Apostles made to each other.  Let us never forget what the Lord has done for us. 

Reflect.  Meditate.  Be filled with wonder.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.  The more I reflect, the more I must admire. 

I would not be where I am today.  I would not be doing what I am doing today.  How can I be sad when I have so much to be grateful for!  Only those who believe in chance have good reason to be sad: the odds always seem to be stacked against them. 

Life is a wedding feast.  Love is the wedding cake.  We exist not only “to be” but to become someone:  a saint.  We exist not just to survive but to thrive! 

I have no right to be sad when the Lord has blessed me with life, with his grace and with a reason for being.  How can I be sad if the Lord has accepted me, forgiven me, anointed me and saved me?  How can I be said if others reject me because of Him?  How can I be sad when my time is up?  Who cares if my life was shorter rather than longer?  How can I be sad if I fought the good fight and fought it to the end?  Don’t you wish to go home after a very rough fight?

I have every reason to be sorrowful when I see a life that rejects His grace, especially when someone says that it is better to think than to pray.  Well, if singing is like praying twice, then praying is like thinking twice.  Oh, if we would only spend more time “thinking twice!”  Oh the errors we would avoid; the many things we would stop doing!  Oh how our hearts and not just our brains would be involved in every decision.  Oh, how we would be filled with great joy!

How can we mourn?  There is only one way.  Only if the groom has been rejected by his bride.