Unmitigated Joy

AM Psalm 45 • PM Psalm 47, 48
Ecclus. 24:1-12 • Rev. 11:14-19 • Luke 11:27-36

Two of the psalms for today, 47 and 48, are songs of unmitigated joy and praise, perfect to read out loud over and over when you're feeling low.

Jesus gives us good teachings to consider in our reading from St. Luke's gospel, especially his wonderful words about light: “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light, but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

When we reach an age when we're losing more friends to death than gaining new ones and feeling our innards darkening and settling downwards, we need to be very careful lest our slightly characteristic tendencies of arrogance, envy, anger, sloth or gluttony as well as our tendencies to remember every grudge and to dominate in every argument settle into rigid, self-defining habits. Now is the time to rekindle the light that Jesus wants to light up our bodies with, no matter how serious our ailments and grievances, and to turn up the lamp of our eye so we can see and love the light of the Holy Spirit shining in our neighbor's eyes.

Written by John DuVal

John submitted this Reflection on October 11, his and Kay's fifty-fifth wedding anniversary. Today is October 25, the birthday of his younger brother Frank. He rejoices and gives thanks and praise to God for every moment of his life with Kay and every moment of Frank's life, especially the good times they had together since the day their mother brought Frank home from the hospital seventy-seven years ago.