Catherine, Dana, Gloria, Jim and Phil’s Rebecca not long ago.
(photo P Volker)
Dear Caminoheads,
So, yesterday we had this gap with mundane events, and somehow in my being the happiness and relief my neighbor-friend had when the door opened and his beloved Vera was freed, still is vibrating… Today, when I woke up, I found a text he wrote once my phone went on silent mode, that he felt what I did for him was “magnificent” and he was “so grateful” that despite the stressful hours, he felt “immensely happy”. My friend doesn’t read this blog, I don’t even think he knows I write here, and he is bilingual in French, but his English is zero! This is to say that this collection of words and feelings were his own… he has no way to know that we have been discussion about joy for the last week here…
But my neighbor-friend message made me think that maybe the experience of joy is present in our lives more often than we believe… ~~And I say this in a personal note, aware that I am not exactly someone with lots of vocabulary for emotions~~ but I was wondering: how can we be sure that what we feel at a certain moment is “Gratitude” instead of “Joy”, or the opposite?
And so, I went to my kindle book and looked for the bookmarks I put in my copy of “The book of Joy” and… here it was the answer to the question above… and the rationale behind my neighbor-friend…
Have a look at these 2 paragraphs from “The book of Joy” by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu:
“When you are grateful,’ Brother Steindl-Rast explained, ‘you are not fearful, and when you are not fearful, you are not violent. When you are grateful, you act out of a sense of enough and not out of a sense of scarcity, and you are willing to share. If you are grateful, you are enjoying the differences between people and respectful to all people. The grateful world is a world of joyful people. Grateful people are joyful people. A grateful world is a happy world.
…
The Dead Sea in the Middle East receives fresh water, but it has no outlet, so it doesn’t pass the water out. It receives beautiful water from the rivers, and the water goes dank. I mean, it just goes bad. And that’s why it is the Dead Sea. It receives and does not give. In the end generosity is the best way of becoming more, more, and more joyful.”
Repeating yesterday loves: Love your neighbor, Loves
Cris
Yes Desmond Tutu was an Anglican and my grandparents on one side of the family where of that persuasion they being Church of Ireland.It tends to be a very liberal religious group on matters such as women priests,etc..A bit of a grey areas what Anglicans are they consider themselves reformed Catholics but most people consider them Protestants.They tend to be in two main camps;High and Low.The High enjoy ritual and seek unification with the Catholics whereas the Low are more Protestant and evangelical.Religion is very interesting I find but I have never had any cause to take it up!
Well great minds think alike! I am delighted to see your references to Mission: Joy. Do you know it was made into a film? I’m friends with one of the filmmakers and was honored to give her notes on a rough cut many moons ago. On January 29th I am hosting a discussion of the film at a “Pilgrim Table” which is what I call the zooms I do with Pilgrimage in Place. Phil was my guest there many times, including October 9, his last full day on this earth. Sigh. In any case, if you like the book, I’m sure you will like the film, and it will be available to us for 72 hours ahead of time. I know a lot of the folks here are also in PIP and can get the info there, but not everyone. Just let me know if you would like me to extend the invitation to everyone here. <3 Much love to one and all. Let's keep on walking!
Wonderful Cris!
I”ve been wrestling with the an issue of “giving” these last few days. There is a family that frequently attends Mass with us in St Joseph’s here in Wellman. They aren’t members of our Parish, but they enjoy our wonderful Priest, Fr Bill, and are invariably friendly and helpful where they can be. Teresa, the Mom, has three lovely daughters, all under age 8. Her husband is not the father of the girls, but appears to be very close to them and caring of their well being. Their immigration status is “uncertain”, and neither have jobs. Cathy and I helped them out at Christmas to buy gifts for their girls. This past week Teresa reached out to me with a request to “help” them with an overdue utility bill. The moratorium on shutting off utilities for non-payment has ended, so they could have their power shut off within days. Because of their legal status, they don’t qualify for the typical governmental aid. Reluctantly (I’m ashamed to say), I agreed to pay this bill for them, on the condition that the husband immediately find employment. Literally EVERY business in the country is begging for workers, so I can’t understand why he isn’t employed. Or at least watching the girls so Teresa can go out and work.
And then today, I get your message of Joy and Gratefullness, and it all seems to be so right. I don’t want to be the Dead Sea.
Gratefully and Joyfully yours,
PFJ
In case you haven’t discovered it yet, I urge you to read ‘Surpised by Joy’ by C.S. Lewis; it’s one of my favorites and I’ve read it more than once. It made me so much more aware of all the moments of joy we get to experience throughout the day, if we are attentive to them. Something like all the ‘coincidences/miracles’ on El Camino when I realized that these things happen all the time but we’re often too busy, distracted, whatever to even notice them.
Thanks for your continued writing and quotes, Cris!