“You will fill me with joy in your presence.” (Acts 2:28)
A famous photograph from 1973 shows a family in California running to meet their father, who had just been released from a Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp.
With arms outstretched, their faces are positively beaming as they run to embrace him. One daughter is actually airborne as she leaps with outstretched arms toward her father.
This picture shows just how closely love is connected to joy. It shows how simply being with someone we love can fill us with happiness-especially if we have been separated from them for a while.
This is the kind of joy that Mary Magdalene felt when she first saw the risen Lord. It’s also the kind of joy that Peter felt on the day of Pentecost and the joy that filled the author of Psalm 16, the psalm that Peter quotes in today’s first reading.
In the abstract, of course, we know that Jesus is always with us, even if it sometimes feels as if he is far away. We know that we shouldn’t feel glum just because we don’t sense God’s presence. But this theory doesn’t always translate into reality for us. This is why faith is so important-and why specific acts that express our faith can be helpful. For example, when you pray in the morning, try doing something concrete to remind you of Jesus’ presence. You may want to dim the lights and light a candle. Or maybe you could keep an icon or crucifix nearby. You could try praying out loud, vocally affirming the truths of Jesus’ love and presence. You could even pray before the Blessed Sacrament!
As you go through your day, you could also call on the Lord or say a short prayer of praise every couple of hours to keep Jesus’ presence in the forefront of your mind. That’s what the seventeenth-century Carmelite Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection did, and it filled him with joy, even as he worked “among the pots and pans” in the monastery kitchen!
This Easter season, resolve to trust more deeply in Jesus’ presence. Then, you’ll be ready on Pentecost to receive his Spirit more deeply in your heart.
“Lord, help me to know that you are with me at every moment. Today, I choose to rejoice in you!”
Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Sal Veder/File.
--that in all things God may be glorified--
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