Scores Fill Sarto Retreat Center To 'make A Joyful Noise'

More than 80 people of all ages filled the Sarto Retreat Center in Evansville on Aug. 11 for a special Source Summit retreat. Nic Davidson, an excellent speaker, and husband and father  from Minnesota who visited Evansville earlier this year for the main Source Summit retreat in March, returned for this event, titled “Make a Joyful Noise!” Father Jerry Pratt and Father Tyler Tenbarge were available to administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and food and games were provided.

Davidson began the day by distinguishing joy from happiness, explaining that there is “a form of fundamental difference between the two.” He always searches Scripture and the Catechism before he speaks; and he said the Catechism refers to happiness about 30 times, while it refers to joy more than 300 times.

Happiness dwells on the surface of our lives and is generally based on circumstantial conditions, while joy is deeply rooted in knowing our purpose and meaning. We know we are here only for God’s abundance of love and to love him back, and that knowledge should affect our every decision. He said, “If you know why you’re here, you’ll treat people differently. You actually don’t need anything but God. You don’t need hype, you just need to know these small facts and live them every day.”

Joy comes from a more complete perspective. Even when we can be dramatic about being unhappy for lack of something, we recognize our lives don’t depend on the fulfillment of that desire.

Then Davidson addressed three primary obstacles to joy: ourselves, external influences, and Satan. We self-impose limits to our joy when we adopt the mentality that we won’t be happy “unless” we obtain a certain item, position, or relationship. External things, such as sickness and death, will occur regardless of our preferences, so we must recognize some things are beyond our control and stop being so devastated by the inevitable. And as Davidson said, Satan wants us “to live a tortured life, separated from the Father.”

He shared a particularly difficult experience in his life; and even when everything was falling apart and he felt “crushed by the weight of the world and stripped of everything,” he knew, “There is something inside me that nothing can touch.” Joy transforms us and helps us hold fast to the rock of faith in the storms of life.

At the end, Davidson stressed that we must carry this joy with us into the world and stand out among our peers because of the light we’ve found. He emphasized, “There’s only hope!” At Mass we receive “all the intimacy in the world,” and “every minute in history God’s just coming through and fixing it.” If these aren’t causes for joy, what is? We are untouchable in our assurance of God’s love for us. At one point, Davidson said, “He made you able to smile for a reason.”

Do you know that reason?

And will you choose to smile?