Does Being Joyful Mean I Can't be Sad?

I found this wonderful article by Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit Priest, this morning, and it spoke to some of the questions we discussed last week.

Does Being Joyful Mean I Can't be Sad?

A quote:

So the believer must navigate between a grinning, idiotic, false happiness and carping, caterwauling, complaining mopiness. (Notice again that I’m also not speaking of clinical depression here, which more of a psychological issue.)  Overall, the believer will be happy and sad at different points of his life; but joy is possible in the midst of tragedy, since joy depends on one's faith and confidence in God.

 

To that end, one of my quotes about religion comes from the Scottish philosopher John Macmurray, who contrasted “illusory” religion with “real religion.”

 

The maxim of illusory religion is:  “Fear not; trust in God and He will see that none of the things you fear will happen to you.”  

 

Real religion, said Macmurray, has a different maxim: “Fear not; the things that you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.”