Sea of Joy
Oh that we might set happy sail upon the waters of your delight.
It’s all close by, waiting for us if only we stop our crazy pace
and allow our manacled calendars to fall away from our tethered lives.
Now is the time, not later, to let go and leap into your joy.
-Indian mystic poet, Kabir
My friend Pat Twohy, SJ? He spends his days being available to the Native people, tribes of Swinomish, Tulalip, Coast Salish. He can’t really commit to leading a retreat like this because at any moment a tribal member might call him up and ask him to come – usually in response to a death of a tribal member. He mourns with them with a face that beams. I rarely see Pat without his glow. He speaks through a grin. Smiling all of the time. He can’t help himself.
Much like Fr Pat O’Leary, SJ, who, after listening to others for hours, would wander into the Water Room, upstairs of this retreat house, and people would draw to him like honey, like he was a new born baby being carried into the room for the very first time. Adorable. Happy. Twinkling. Giggling. Irresistible.
Another someone I know loves God so much, feels loved by God so much, she feels like the luckiest person on the planet. “I don’t like talking about my prayer,” she says, “I don’t want to brag!” And although she seems to be letting go of loved ones and walking them home to God. She radiates, and in disbelief, she falls in love in prayer, over and over again.
And I think: How can these 3 live the passion of week 3 of the Exercises and STILL swim in that sea of joy, sail those waters of delight - that is - live the 4th week of the Exercises? These three know the passion of week 3 AND they swim in an ocean of joy, they sail on waters of delight, the 4th week of the Exercises?
I suspect that they didn’t become Giants of Joy overnight or over one 3-day retreat weekend. Maybe they were born that way? Or have been praying for such a long time that they have been receiving the gift, the grace of week 4, “to be glad and rejoice intensely” over and over again that they are full of it. Maybe they are our prophets of the Resurrection, the promise that joy, peace, and love will be all in all.
After Jesus dies, the Resurrection began in disbelief and emptiness, like with Mary in the garden, clinging to what she used to know, unable to see the new life in her midst.
The Resurrection came as a surprise: to the women who ran from the tomb with the good news, the friends who were served breakfast at the beach, or who were talking together on their way home to Emmaus.
Small, everyday moments: reunions of friends, a shared meal, the meeting of a stranger. Simple consolations, uplifting peace and love.. And in the days of Jesus, they happened in community and to the ones who were faithful to community. “Peace,” he would bring them. “Do not be afraid,” he would share with them.
And those elusive surprises, moments of delight, that take our breath away, give us perspective, move us to gratitude? The ones that deepen our love of God, for one another and ourselves? It is the on-going Resurrection, available to each one of us, hidden away in week 3, now radiates in week 4, in our Resurrection moments
We are invited to anticipate, notice, experience and savor these mini-Resurrections in our prayer today.
That morning water view, another’s smile, warm coffee, tasty summer fruits, fresh air, personal moments you have lived, designed as graces for you, Don’t miss them today!
And don’t leave this retreat too soon! Don’t numb out and just check off the box : “Died and Rose Again.” Check. Done that. And don’t be disappointed without a loud and obvious Resurrection happening today. Instead, watch for the subtle, small, sweet ones emerging
“What is it that you want to do in me in THIS moment, God?”
“Ever since happiness heard your name,” says Hafez, “It’s been running down the road to find you.”
In week 4, God unites us in life and joy - as much as in sorrow and pain-sharing more and more moments of peace, freedom, and hope - giving us a courage to live it in the midst of dark times. A ight that grows from the hurts and wants in our personal, loving relationships, “Do you love me?”; the energy and transformation that comes from our healing moments; “Do you want to be healed?” and forgiving moments “Go, now, and sin no more.”
Resurrection is the justice moments that rise up in our world: whenever we reach for and grasp at what can help people. When we are called again, to live from a different place, a new place. Like Peter, ”Feed my Sheep.”
When we choose to be fearlessness with our courageous heart for another, “do not be afraid,” joy can be born. We feel the stretch and bend towards God and swim with the prophets of unending joy.
“Today,” says Joyce Rupp, ”I take the plunge.”
Like those early disciples, we are called -now- at the Resurrection, into our own, particular everyday places, and transform and become more and more of ourselves. . In this particular ordinary, everyday time and specific place is a specific action: this is the on-going Resurrection, the transformation of hearts to be more and more of ourselves, more and more of who we are meant to be, part of the vast, life-giving and inviting waters, of delight, . So go ahead, now, be glad. Rejoice intensely. Live with your God who unites into a life-giving and beautiful, inviting waters, part of the ongoing Resurrection of unending joy.