Mass at St. Martha's: Christianity without joy is not fruitful

Last updated: Thu 31 Mar 2022 PM

"Do not be ashamed to express the joy of the encounter with the Lord, do not be detached from the feast that people make when they feel God close to them". This is the invitation proposed by the Pope during the Mass at St. Martha's House on Tuesday 28 January 2020.

The Gospel will only go forward with "evangelizers full of life and joy". A joy that also continues "at the family table", urged Francis in his homily on 28 January.

This sense of the joy of being Christian, the centre of the Holy Father's reflection, is supported by the first reading of the day, taken from the second book of Samuel. It tells how David and the people of Israel celebrate the return to Jerusalem of the Ark of the Covenant, which contains the Tables of the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Celebrating in the Presence of God

L'Arche had been kidnapped, the Pope recalled, and his return to Jerusalem "is a great joy for the people". They feel that God is close to them, so they celebrate. King David leads the procession, and makes a sacrifice by sacrificing a heifer and a large ram. With the people, he shouts, sings and dances "with all his might".

It was a feast: the joy of God's people because God was with them. And David expresses his joy without shame; the spiritual joy of the encounter with the Lord: God has come back to us, that gives us so much joy. David does not think that he is the king and that the king should be detached from the people, in "majesty" or with distance...

The treasure of spontaneity and joy

The text of the prophet Samuel continues to describe the return of David to his home where he finds his first wife, Michal, daughter of King Saul. She welcomes him with contempt. When she saw the king dancing, she was ashamed of him: "But aren't you ashamed to dance like a commoner, like a member of the people?" she reproached him.

For the Supreme Pontiff of Argentina, such an attitude amounts to contempt for "authentic religiosity, the spontaneity of joy with the Lord".

David, however, explains to her: "But look, it's a cause for joy, we have brought the Ark home! But she continues to despise him. And for good reason, the Old Testament tells us that Mical did not have children because of this. "The Lord punished her". "When there is no joy in a Christian, that Christian is not fruitful; when there is no joy in our hearts, there is no fruitfulness," Francis deduced.

Joyful evangelizers

"The Church will not continue and the Gospel will not continue with boring and bitter evangelizers. It will continue only with joyful, lively evangelizers. The joy of receiving the Word of God, the joy of being Christians, the joy of moving forward, the ability to celebrate without being ashamed and not to be like that woman, Mical, formal Christians, prisoners of formalities", the Successor of Peter strongly concluded.

Source: Vatican News