Embracing Life's Dual Emotions

There will always be unfathomable joy and excruciating sorrow along life's journey. You have probably recently felt both happiness and suffering, joy and grief, as you read these lines today. We frequently experience various feelings simultaneously, with happy times being balanced by sad ones and painful times being alleviated by the prospect of hope and tranquility.

Our ability to feel happy or sad is frequently completely uncontrollable. Either sorrow joins us on our trip without our invitation or joy is bestowed upon us freely. Emotions have a kind of passive realism to them; we frequently experience them whether we choose to or not!

What if joy is something you consciously seek out and seek out rather than just a sensation that comes your way? You have to extend your ability to love and rejoice in order to accomplish this, not only for your personal happiness but also for the happiness of others. The capacity to rejoice with others even in the absence of any concrete gain is an indication of the Spirit's activity in your life. Free from any comparison, envy, or jealousy, their joy genuinely becomes your joy.

In a same vein, we must beg for the ability to accept and internalize the grief and suffering of others. It is possible to stay emotionally aloof and unaffected while holding the suffering and destruction of others at arm's length, so this is an active and deliberate decision. The fact that St. Paul commands us rather than advises us is understandable! Choosing to intentionally seek out individuals who are grieving and allow their suffering to become our own is what it means to cry with those who are grieving.

Our innate tendencies and aspirations are at odds with this kind of living. We must allow ourselves to be vulnerable to the happiness and suffering of others. Our own happiness or suffering cannot be our main focus. God grant us the ability to live this radical life of compassion and empathy for the benefit of others and as a symbol of his impending Kingdom!