y
“And here is the first word that
I wish to say to you: joy!”
Pope Francis, Palm Sunday homily, March 24, 2013
Formed by Paul VI
But why does Pope Francis emphasize joy rather than
some other fruit of knowing Christ? Of course, the emphasis
is biblically founded. We hear Jesus proclaiming a “Gospel of
Joy”: “I have said these things [about abiding in the Father’s
love when we keep his commandments] so that my joy may
be in you and that your joy may be complete” (Jn 15:11; see
also Jn 17:13).
Still, why emphasize believing in joy rather than faith, hope,
or charity? Well, clearly Francis picks up a theme to which
Pope Paul VI devoted his 1975 apostolic exhortation, Gaudete in
Domino (Joy in the Lord). Of the previous popes in recent history,
Paul VI is a mentor of Francis who has shaped his mind and
heart, and whom Francis cites in his writings most frequently.
No Forbidden Trees
More than forty years ago, the future Pope Benedict XVI,
then Joseph Ratzinger, gave the answer to this question by
suggesting one reason, more than any other, why so many
unbelievers are put off from the Christian faith.
“The most telling refutation of what Christianity claims
to be,” wrote Ratzinger, is “this feeling that Christianity is
opposed to joy, this impression of punctiliousness [showing
great attention to correct behavior] and unhappiness.”
Furthermore, he adds, Christians are perceived to be
obsessed with the “fourth [parental authority] and sixth
commandments [sexual morality] that the resultant
complex with regard to authority and purity renders the
individual so incapable of free self-development that his
selflessness degenerates into a loss of self and a denial of
love, and his faith leads, not to freedom but to rigidity and
an absence of freedom.”
Of course, this alleged malady Ratzinger describes is
Hollywood’s exaggerated version of the Christian life.
Ratzinger concludes, “It is surely a more likely explanation of
why people leave the Church than are any of the [intellectual
challenges or] problems the faith may pose today.”
Yet, Ratzinger quickly responds by stating that the
dangers today for the culture seem to be not scrupulosity
(“moralism”) but laxity, not legalism but antinomianism
(“lawlessness”), not a lack of freedom but license (“anything
goes”), since, he correctly notes, “there are no longer any
forbidden trees” (alluding to Genesis 3:1-7)
Where Is There Hope?
We se