'We Are To Be Joyful Witnesses To Christ….'
In the introduction to “The Joy of the Gospel,” Pope Francis’ first words reflect the fact that by our very nature Christians are joyful people because we have been “set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness” (Paragraph 1). This freedom has come to us through Jesus’ death, Resurrection and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Through our baptism and confirmation, we are intimately immersed into the life of the Trinity, which is strengthened each time we join together to celebrate the Eucharist. We affirm this reality at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer by proclaiming – “Through him, and with Him, and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, Almighty Father, forever and ever. Amen.”
“The Joy of the Gospel” encourages Christians to launch a new age of evangelization, which is to be marked by a spirit of joy. We are to be joyful witnesses to Christ in proclaiming His Good News. Joyful Christians attract people to Christ just as sweet-smelling nectar attracts bees to flowers.
Pope Francis himself is a joyful messenger of Christ. His personal faith in Christ brings him tremendous joy, which emanates from him. Is not this joy one of the virtues that attracts Catholics, Christians, non-Christians and perhaps people of no faith to him – and hopefully through him to a deeper or an initial meeting with Christ? Our Holy Father does not ask us to do more than he himself does in his own daily life.
Oddly, he warns that one of the greatest dangers to Christian joy today is consumerism. What is consumerism? And why would consumerism be a threat to joy in a Christian’s life today? Basically, consumerism means that we try to find our happiness by buying more and more “things” or accumulating more and more wealth. Deep down, we know this is false because 1) nothing in this world – although all things are good – brings us the happiness we desire; 2) if a person accumulates $1 million, the desire is to accumulate the second million is not far behind; 3) once we have purchased our dream car, we soon hear about another car with even more “whistles and bells.” Consumerism is a struggle between our needs and our wants. Madison Avenue convinces us we need everything we want.
I often wonder – if we had another great depression in this country and every family had only $10 to spend at Christmas – could we have a “Merry” Christmas considering our huge amount of gift giving? My younger sister had the custom of purchasing only one really nice gift for each of her children; the other gifts would be items they needed like basic clothing. I always admired her for this because she taught them the real meaning of Christmas. It’s not easy for parents to do this when their children’s friends receive so many gifts and we feel we have to keep up with the Jones’.
Consumerism also makes us use more of the world’s resources than we actually need. We become a gluttonous people, something I realized at a recent convention as I stacked my plate with two stories of food, which I also do at every funeral dinner! I eat more than I actually need to sustain my life while others go to bed hungry. We need to broaden our understanding of gluttony beyond food to realize that it involves everything we want, but don’t really need.
Why does Pope Francis believe that consumerism can destroy joy in a Christian’s life? In the next article, we’ll begin by answering that question.
