by Rev. Lynne Hinton
There is a line from Thomas Merton that has become important to me. “No despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there.”
“Stain the joy.” I absolutely love that phrase. Merton says it can’t be done but that’s certainly not without many valiant attempts on our part. And yet, somehow hearing the Trappist monk speak of joy and delight with certainty, with such resolute confession, gives me hope in our troubled times.
Of course, I know the promises in our sacred texts, the reminders that nothing can separate us from the love of God, that all things work for good. That God is bigger than any trouble we face. But to frame faith in this way, to say in gospel boldness that our loss and grief, our suffering and despair will not diminish or change the reality of how things really are from the Creator’s perspective, that nothing we feel or do or is done to us can sully the celebration of creation’s never-ending dance, well, that leaves me breathless.
It has been said that the Desert Fathers and Mothers would repeat one word over and over when they found themselves lost in despair. The word wasn’t Jesus or Love or Mercy. It was Today.
And Today, grief and loss and trouble and sorrow do not have the final say. Today, joy extends everywhere, whole and holy, and unstained. May today be the day you take a breath and relish this joy.