Is There Joy Amidst Tragedy?

Today I taught one of the most difficult lessons to my (nganh thieu) kids.  It was about the liturgical seasons, specifically Advent since we are in it, and especially Gaudete Sunday since it is the third week.  Gaudete means joy.  This Sunday, the color of Advent switched from violet to rose signifying that Jesus’ birth was near.  For that reason, it was time to be excited, to be Christmassy, and to rejoice.  But amidst of what took place in Newtown, CT this week, what is there to rejoice in?  Can we be joyful when the unimaginable and heinous act of violence took the lives of 20 children and 8 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School?  The second reading from Paul to the Philippians this Sunday tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  Always?  In the wake of evil, joy would be the last of my reaction.  Anger, bitterness, agony, numbness, confusion, anguish, and sorrowfulness took over.  

At the end of the lesson today, I gathered the kids together.  I prepared a short speech to invite them to be in solidarity with the family and friends of the victims and pray for them.  As I was speaking about the incident, I felt overwhelmed and began to tear up.  I was struggling to speak and completely forgot what I was about to say.  It really didn’t matter.  The whole class was absolutely quiet.  Silence for a whole minute as they watched me scramble to find words.  I have never seen them so quiet like this ever before.  It was very serene, it was a prayer in itself, a prayer of compassion.

 I cannot answer for them why God allows something like this to happen.  There is no satisfactory answer to why such evil exists in this world, but we do know one thing.  That one thing is described beautifully and is the shortest sentence in John’s gospel: “And Jesus wept.”  Jesus wept because he understands what sorrow is and what it is like to lose a loved one.  Jesus was with Mary and Martha during their painful time and he is with the families of Newtown today in their mourning.  Our God is the God of Emmanuel, the God of With-Us, the God that accompanies us through our times of sorrow.  It is God’s desire to join us in our prayers and share our sadness and anger when life turns bitter.  

Rejoice in the Lord always. So how are we supposed to rejoice always in times like these?  Because our God weeps with us and promise us eternal life.  Jesus came to Lazarus’s tomb and removed the sufferings by raising him from the dead.  In the end, death is not the last word, nor is violence.  James Martin, SJ, tells us to distinguish the difference between joy and happiness, “Joy, deeper than happiness, is a virtue that finds its foundation in the knowledge that we are loved by God.”  We celebrate the joyful part of being Christians every time we remember Jesus’ resurrection.  Jesus didn’t leave us with the image of suffering, but his last act before ascending into heaven was lifting up his hands to bless us and sending the Spirit to continue loving us to the end.  We are the people of Easter, the people of joy.  There are times that life becomes unbearable, the true joy that can be found in those situations is trusting that a loving, compassionate God is carrying us through all circumstances.    

  

Thankfully, wherever there is hardship and tragedy, one can find wonderful beauties.  There are many caring people in this world to rejoice about.  There are people helping one another, sacrificing for one another and loving of one another.  One such example is Victoria Soto, the 27-year-old first grade teacher at the elementary school who hid all her students in the closet and became a human shield.  She was gunned down by the shooter after she told him the kids were in the gym.  All 16 of her students are safe and alive, but she herself is dead.  Her selfless act of love in my opinion makes it possible for us to restore hope in the goodness of humanity.  We celebrate Victoria Soto’s life because she is a hero, and that gives us something to be joyful about.   

As we approach the season of Christmas, may our God, who is the God of compassion, the God of joy, embrace and welcome the souls of the innocent children and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School into the glory of God’s loving arms.  May God comfort the sorrowful hearts of their families and friends.  Amen.