“…there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance” (Luke 15:7).  This passage comes right before Jesus shares the story of the Prodigal Son.  From heaven’s perspective, the greatest joy is living a life of repentance, conversion.  On this Laetare Sunday, spend a moment with these words from John Paul II who speaks on this type of joy…

“Let the period of Lent stimulate us, therefore, to carry out our Christian duties. Let us find again the joy that participation in the Eucharist gives us. Let Sunday Mass become for us the climax of every week. Let us find again the joy that comes from repentance, from conversion, from this splendid sacrament of reconciliation with God, which Christ set up to re-establish peace in man's conscience. Let us undertake the spiritual effort that Lent demands of us in order to be capable of accepting with all the depth of the spirit this call of the Church today: "Laetare, Jerusalem.” (Angelus, Fourth Sunday of Lent, 1979).

As you repent and change your heart with the help of God’s grace, your heart can be open to joy more and more.  One book I have been desiring to read is Matthew Kelly’s Slowing down to the Speed of Joy. In it he writes: “In a world obsessed with doing more and doing it faster than ever, slowing down and doing less is the only sane response. If I could go back and live my life all over again, there is one thing I would change. I’d change the speed at which I have lived my life. I can’t go back, but I do intend to live my life at the speed of joy from here on out. It is time to move beyond the joyless urgency of our times….Joy erupts within us when we allow an experience to touch the very depths of our souls. That cannot be rushed. It’s time to slow down to the speed of joy.”

This makes me think of Pope Francis and his doctors’ recent suspension of his General Audience on Wednesday and the Angelus on Sunday at least until May.  The doctors are requiring him to live within the boundaries that his life has for him at the moment.  Are we doing the same?  What limits do we have in life when it comes to doing too much or too little?  Are we listening to our heavenly doctor and slowing down to the speed of joy?

God bless you!
Fr. Jeremy

P.S. Lastly, we rejoice that Deacon Ryan Arto has been called by Bishop Malesic to Priesthood Ordination.  He will be ordained on May 17 at St. John’s Cathedral in Cleveland.  He will celebrate his first Mass here on May 18 at 11:00 a.m. (his birthday 😊).  There is no greater gift!  Praise God!  Continue to pray for him and his classmates