REJOICE ALWAYS

St. Paul in his first letter to the people of Thessalonica (5:16) tells them – and, thus, tells us – to “Rejoice always.” Really? Rejoice when you’ve just lost your job? Rejoice when your marriage breaks apart or your children are sick or you just failed an exam. Really? Rejoice when bad happens to us or to people we love or even to people we do not know? How are we supposed to do that? Even more, why should we do that?

Yet that is what Paul says we must do. Why? Well, to begin with he would tell us, as that old song says, we should rejoice because “this is the day the Lord has made.” And because the Lord has made this day, then “let us rejoice and be glad in it.” God has given us, individually and collectively, this day to live out as best we can. Yesterday is past and tomorrow is not yet and, moreover, there might not be a tomorrow for us given that each day is an individual gift from God.

Even so, even being thankful that God has given us – given me – this day as a gift, everything about this day on a personal level can be very painful making it very difficult for me to find any reason to rejoice this day. That may very well be true. But that is to miss Paul’s point, I think. While I may find little or nothing for me to rejoice about on a personal level given that I may be drowning in pain and suffering, nevertheless, people I love have reasons to rejoice which should give me a reason to rejoice amid my pain.

That may be difficult to do, of course. In fact, it almost always is. When we are in pain of any kind, it is truly difficult to summon up the strength to rejoice in the good others are experiencing. We are expending all of our strength just to get through this day and Paul expects us to summon up the strength to rejoice that others are not in pain? Well, yes, yes indeed, Paul would say.

Even more, while we may be in pain, deserved or undeserved, there are always many reasons for us to rejoice amidst all that pain. And we can put names and faces on those reasons. In fact, those named faces are the ones who are standing beside us, walking with us, praying for us as we endure the pain we are now experiencing. They may not be able to take away the pain, undo the damage, make things better, but their presence always helps somehow in some way to ease that pain. Is that not a reason to rejoice?

This day has been given to us for a reason. It has been given to us to live as fully and as faithfully and as best we can else God would not have been given it to us in the first place. Once we awaken to this day, even though we may awaken to pain, Paul would remind us, we are to find all the reasons we can to rejoice in it. And if we awaken pain free, rejoicing in that gift, we are to do all we can to help the ones we love who are in pain to get through the day.

There are always reasons to “rejoice always”.  It is up to us to find them…and rejoice!