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| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
Dear Friends:
In our Second Reading of this past Sunday (1 Thessalonians 5), we hear: “Rejoice in the Lord always,” and “Pray without ceasing.” The idea of rejoicing always is, from a human point of view, unthinkable, without that second half: pray without ceasing.
One of the Christmas cards that I opened recently said simply this: “Bishop, please pray for us. It’s been tough.”
How is that person, from a human point of view, expected to rejoice? The answer is, they’re not.
And consider St. John the Baptist. If you go through his teaching, mentioned in the Gospels, you will see that never once did he tell a joke. So, there was a sort of rejoicing from a human point of view, in which St. John the Baptist did not indulge.
Yet, John was full of joy, just as the family who wrote me the card is called to be full of joy, the family for whom things have been pretty tough.