Wednesday, April 09, 2008


Wednesday in the 3rd Week of Easter
The Joy is in The Rain


Readings: Acts 8:1b-8; Psalm 66:1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a; John 6:35-40
Picture: CC carf

Every cloud has a silver lining… This is perhaps the first thought that comes to mind as we listen to the readings at Mass today. We are well aware, of course, that we remain in the exuberance of Easter. How can we forget, when we find this joyful shout in the response to the psalm: Let all the earth cry out to God with joy… And yet, we cannot help but notice that the first reading begins with these ominous words: there broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered… Even so, the same reading ends on an unexpectedly lighthearted note. Forced dispersal results in wider dissemination of the gospel, even to Samaria. And there was great joy in that city. From behind the terrible thundercloud of persecution peeps the silver lining of growth in fervor and in number.

But we might perhaps reflect still a little further, question a little deeper. Is it enough for us to remain with the image of a tiny silver lining around every ominous cloud? Is that truly the full extent of our Easter joy? When our ears are deafened by loud peals of thunder, when our eyes are blinded by bright flashes of lightning, or our homes inundated by torrential sheets of rain, is our comfort only to be found after we have weathered the storm? Does our joy come only after the rains have ceased and we have managed to catch sight of the sun shyly peeping out from behind the stubborn clouds that remain?

Or is there not something more to the gift of faith that we spoke of in the opening prayer? As a result of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, is it not rather the case that even in the midst of the storm, however terrible and torrential it may be, we are never abandoned. Rather than waiting desperately to catch sight of a silver lining, is it not rather the case that, because of Christ, every cloud is now shot through with silver? This doesn’t mean, of course, that we will not have occasion to suffer, and even to make a loud lament, as the Christians of Jerusalem do in the first reading. What it does mean is that even in the midst of our pain, Christ can yet be found. For as he himself tells us in the gospel, this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it up on the last day…

Isn’t this the all but unbelievable mystery that we are celebrating, and into which we are continually immersing ourselves in this Easter season? Isn’t this the crux of the tremendous deeds of God that we earlier acclaimed in the responsorial psalm, that God has changed the sea into dry land, and that the joy is in the rain?

How are being invited to enter more fully into this joy today?

3 comments:

  1. If we were to take a reading of what rain means, one has only to visit the Middle East. Over there, where water is scarce, thunder and lightning are rare occasions when the parched earth is granted temporary relief.
    Some of us are so soaked in affluence and abundance in tropical Asia that we often fail to appreciate that we must also sometimes experience drought to feel the sheer ecstasy of these precious raindrops on our face, when the clouds burst. Our existence mirror this vicissitude of life.
    This takes me to the axiom showers of blessings when God provides us with abundance. Sun and Rain are co-existent and both are needed to sustain life. So too with joy and suffering. When it rains, we know the value of the redemptive power that this presents; and we remain faithful knowing that He will not allow us to endure beyond our capacity to suffer.
    Like all struggling disciples, we are partners with nature, living out God's loving act of Creation.

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  2. Was just reminded of this song by Medical Mission Sister, Miriam Therese Winter...

    "Joy is Like the Rain"

    I saw raindrops on my window
    Joy is like the rain
    Laughter runs across my pain
    Slips away and comes again
    Joy is like the rain.
    I saw clouds upon a mountain
    Joy is like the cloud
    Sometimes silver sometimes grey
    Always sun not far away
    Joy is like the cloud.
    I saw raindrops on the river
    Joy is like the rain
    Bit by bit the river grows
    Till all at once it overflows
    Joy is like the rain
    Joy is like the rain.

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  3. Thank you, Fr Chris. The photo is so full of joy and you've put it all beautifully. This is like a breath of fresh air!

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