Pope Francis titled his recent "exhortation" the Joy of the Gospel for a reason that is obvious when you read his clear, approachable writing-- for him, joy is the fundamental attribute of the Christian.  Christianity is a religion of joy, of "good news", of happiness here and eternally, he wants us to understand.

For the Pope, there is no place for negative thinkers who believe that we cannot transform society or who profess that all we can do is fight a lengthy holding action while the world slowly goes down the drain.  He describes the "Debbie Downers" among us as like generals who go into a battle convinced they cannot win.  

The simple reason the Pope is so assertive on this point is the  fact that the only way we will truly persuade others to live as Christians is for us to radiate joy.  No decree, no theological argument, no set of rules, no prohibitions will have any impact on others unless and until our lives radiate the joy that was so attractive to first-century inhabitants of the Roman Empire and is so attractive to twenty-first century inhabitants of a secular world. 

The place that joy is lived and displayed is at the parish level, and there was no shortage of Christian joy this weekend at St. Richard's Church.  The "Mask-A-Rave" event on Saturday night was a great success, with a record attendance and a very happy crowd which exceeded all expectations in terms of money raised for new social hall chairs.

On Sunday morning as I sat selling tickets for the Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast breakfast, I was struck by how much joy was in the room, how happy people seemed to be, how the conversation was upbeat and positive.

Had he been there, the Pope would have found a community truly experiencing the message of joy he is trying so diligently to proclaim and live.