The Joy of the Gospel

Over the weekend, I worked a TEC (Together Encountering Christ) retreat.  As usual, it was a refreshing experience, working amongst other team members who have a desire to share Jesus with others and grow deeper in their faith.  In his homily at the closing mass on Sunday, the priest, Father Joel, made a statement that stood out to me.  He said, “don’t let anyone steal the joy of the Gospel from you.”  Leaving a retreat and going back to “normal” life, this is a reminder that is so important.

Coming home from retreats can, oftentimes, be difficult.  You go from being in a Christ-centered environment with a community of like-minded individuals to going back into your regular, ordinary routine.  We all have co-workers, friends, classmates, or family members, who either grew up Catholic and don’t want to hear about it anymore, went to Catholic school or religious education for years and believe they know everything there is to know, or have stopped practicing the faith for various reasons.  When we interact with those who have not had the same kinds of faith experiences as us, it can be hard to keep the fire in our hearts alive.  At times, it feels like some of the people around us are trying to diminish the joy of the Gospel and following Jesus.

People can often make us feel many different ways about the faith we have and about the truth we believe in.  If you actively practice your faith, it is likely that you’ve felt lonely, out of place, or different at one time or another.  Maybe you’ve felt like others around you have tried to diminish your faith or dismissed your encounters with Christ.  But we cannot give in to the temptations to become disheartened and to hide our faith.

There is a great deal of joy in knowing the Gospel and truths of our faith and in following Jesus.  If you’ve had a personal encounter with Him at any point, you know this.  You know that living a life of faith and having a relationship with Christ is worth it.  Many times, the people we interact with and the rest of the world will not understand our experiences or our faith.  In fact, they will probably question your faith, shut you down, dismiss you,, or ridicule you.  But Jesus told us they would.
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Whenever you experience Christ in a real and powerful way, let those experiences permeate throughout your life.  Everyone will not understand and it will be hard to persevere.  But keep striving to live out your faith and never let anyone steal the joy of the Gospel from you.