Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY
/
Joy in the new year
Joy in the new year
Jul 12, 2025 3:17 AM

On the cusp of a new year, it is human nature to spend time looking to the past and anticipating what is e. January, of course, is named for Janus, the Roman god of two faces, one looking back and one looking to the future.

We wish the best for ing year. We hope and pray for goodness and peace, but we know that humans often choose otherwise. I suspect it is part of the melancholy that settles in for some people this time of year.

God willing, Pope Francis will visit the City of Brotherly Love in the U.S. in 2015. Philadelphia is a fit setting for a pope who so embodies an openness to all people. In my mind's eye, I see Pope Francis embracing the handicapped, the disfigured, the young, and the old: all who gather in St. Peter's Square, hoping just to catch a glimpse of him.

For Catholics, Pope Francis has declared 2015 the Year of Consecrated Life. This is meant to encourage prayer, support, and education about those who choose the religious life: priests and religious brothers and sisters. It is interesting that in proclaiming this, Pope Francis calls upon those in the religious life to "radiate joy." I propose this is an excellent ideal for all of us.

It would be helpful here to consider the word "joy." Our culture tends to equate joy with happiness, but for the Christian, this is not so. C. S. Lewis is likely the best modern writer to explore the idea of joy. He wrote Surprised by Joy, an autobiography of his early life; truly, about his search for God. Lewis came to faith in a methodical and scholarly manner, befitting the English schoolboy he was. His search for faith, he writes, was a search for joy, a longing for something, a something he could not quite name for a long time. He eventually learns that joy and faith in God are inexorably intertwined.

Lewis says this, "All Joy reminds. It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still 'about to be.'" It seems to me that this is another way to view faith. Our faith in God is not a possession, not something we cling to. It is not meant to be kept to ourselves. Faith should instill in us a longing for something beyond this world. Our faith keeps us rooted in the past, in historical events and those people who have guarded and guided the Church through the centuries, but our faith must also propel us forward. The faith is always ancient, ever new.

Two thousand years ago, on a night where men kept watch over their sheep and weary travelers hastened to the call of the Roman Empire, a baby was born. A baby's birth is always a good thing, but this … well, this required more than just a mere birth announcement. It required an angelic proclamation: "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people."

That something that Lewis searched for, that we all search for, is a Someone. Let us greet the New Year with the joy we have in Christ our Savior.

Rev. Sirico is president and co-founder of the Acton Institute.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY
Religion, Economics, and the Market Paradox
R&L: In your latest book, pare economics to religion. Why? Nelson: Because economics is a belief system with powerful moral implications. I use the term religion in a broad sense, as something that provides a framework for one's values or some purpose to one's life. I am convinced that people must have some sort of religion, that no one can live entirely free from a framework of meaning. Of course, not all religions require a God, as Judaism or...
The Morality of Intellectual Property Rights
R&L: What significance do intellectual property rights have within a free market economy and what importance did the Founding Fathers place on intellectual property rights in the American economy? Rogan: They are the underlying basis of a free market economy. The amazing thing about the Founders, aside from their wondrous gift of the Constitution, is that while they were in Philadelphia drafting that precious document they recognized the importance of intellectual property. When I give speeches on the subject,...
Rediscovering "Calling" Will Revitalize Church and Society
R&L: In your book, The American Hour, you say that America, at her best, is a liberal experiment. In this context, what do you mean by “liberal”? Guinness: I mean it, not it its modern sense, but in its nineteenth-century sense of liberalism in the relation of faith and freedom. I think the framers were clear that faith and freedom were integral. Faith was foundational to the United States at three points. The first was winning freedom; just take...
A Powerful Consequence: An Interview with Francisco Flores
What a change El Salvador has gone through. What a challenge. How do individuals deal with that challenge, especially with regard to their faith? I think that in normal conditions, in peaceful, prosperous conditions, your core identity can be clothed in many layers. But to the degree that you suffer, and that you face yourself with crisis, you face yourself with the possibility of death, that you face yourself with the loss of family members, you are left only...
The Moral of the Story: An Interview with Ralph Winter
How do you maintain your faith in a high-demand job environment of money, power, and stress? I've got a support system in place that helps make that all work. Primarily, a wife who understands as well as challenges me. I've been married for thirty-one years. Our lives are centered around our faith in terms of what we're about, where we're going, and why we do things. That remains at the center. And this is a fun job. I like...
A Tsunami Every Day: An Interview with Tony Hall
How has your faith shaped your political priorities, especially with regard to the fight against hunger? It's quite a major part. A friend of mine who used to work [with me]—a e in and pray with me, and we would read the scripture. He said, “Don't you think it's time you started to take God into your workplace?” I thought, “Yeah, I do, but I don't know how to do it. I don't want to wear religion on my...
Building a Society Where Freedom and Opportunity Flourish
R&L: The philosophical roots of American conservatism run deep. For example, one major influence has been the classical liberal thought of the nineteenth century. How do you understand the relationship between conservatism and classical liberalism, especially their similarities and differences? Feulner: Today, especially, conservatives and classical liberals are more strongly allied against liberals of the left than ever before. They both oppose in principle such intrusions by the left that restrict people’s liberty to pursue their own ends and...
Free Market Requires Legal, Moral, and Religious Foundations
R&L: You have spent a large portion of your professional life in the business world. How has your faith informed how you approach your vocation? Byker: My faith, which had much of its formation while I was a student at Calvin College, has informed my professional life in two ways. One has been by formulating my worldview, a perspective that declares, first, that this is God’s world, that everything was created good by God, and that human beings, especially,...
Judaism's Religious Vision and the Capitalist Ethic
R&L: Historically, what has been the influence of Judaism on the development of capitalism? Sacks: It is important to distinguish between Judaism as a faith and Jews as a people. Both have had an impact on the development of capitalism, in different ways. Judaism did so through its emphasis on work as virtue, made as a necessity, and private property as a precondition of individual liberty. Judaism did not share either the aristocratic disdain for work found in classical...
On Going Through the World with Our Hats Off
R&L: At the heart of any discussion about the environment is the question, “What kind of world do we want to live in?” What, to your way of thinking, is the best environment for man? Dennis: The best environment for man is the environment for liberty. This is an environment that has been hard-won over the years and was somewhat accidental in its occurrence; that is to say, one thousand years ago, men did not go out and say,...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved