Living Joyfully

Living Joyfully is what we do, and what we're inviting others to experience, by exploring and responding to God's dream for them...

This was how I captioned a tweet the other week advertising the three-day Living Joyfully event which has just taken place online, leading up to today, Good Shepherd Sunday, otherwise known as Vocations Sunday. During these days I took part in a couple of the sessions with secondary schools, and with young adults. In the school sessions especially our panel of religious was asked some thought-provoking questions about our call, our motivations, sacrifice and our daily lives, ranging from our vows (and how we could break them!) to contact with our families, time spent in prayer (or 'in church'), and how we relax. A teacher asked us about sex and celibacy on behalf of her curious but suddenly bashful class, who, at the end of the session, pronounced us 'cool' - an accolade I'm happy to accept!

It would have been interesting to hear their discussions after the sessions ended. I hope that if they forgot everything else we'd said they would remember we had talked of love - God's amazing love for us, and our response - at the heart of our call, our motivation and our mission, however differently we each live this. And I hope, too, that they'll have seen that we do, indeed, live joyfully... even though we don't have sex, keep our earnings or receive huge gifts at Christmas. 

This, of course, is the mystery and paradox at the heart of our lives. It is the mystery of receiving through giving, of fulfillment through sacrifice and of the hundredfold promised by Jesus. It is the mystery contained in these words of Pope Francis I bookmarked some months ago: Life is a gift we receive only when we give ourselves away, and our deepest joy comes from saying yes to love, without ifs and buts... A mystery which can be understood by anyone - spouse, parent, carer - who has given themselves away, which is the same as saying yes to love...

No iPad for Christmas, we could have said... but our gift is life in all its fullness, and the deepest joy which comes from saying YES to Love...

And yesterday morning, in between the Living Joyfully sessions I also spent a couple of hours zooming joyfully with some friends from other congregations - including a fair few of the Nuns of Twitter and two of the Bruvs!