Reflections from the Heart – January 26, 2025

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
by Fr. Ivan Olmo

“Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the LORD must be your strength!” Where does your sadness come from? Where is the source of all that hurt, disappointment, and anger inside of you making you feel helpless and unable to change a circumstance or the outcome? Where is the sadness inside of you that feels like every day there is a dreary stormy cloud following you, hovering over you, chasing you even as you try to rest and get away from the dark gray foggy feeling? Where is that unreachable, uncontrollable sadness that displaces and overwhelms all the possible joy and joyful celebrations life invites you to encounter and experience? Sadness is so depressing. We are saddened when life is disrespected, unappreciated, taken for granted or just taken away. We are saddened that our children have to face a constant daily onset of confusion, lies, betrayals, misleading questions or the risk of being victimized or taken advantage of. We are saddened that we cannot really trust with any great trust or certainty the care of our elderly or aging parents. We are saddened by the surge of scammers looking to defraud us by the fake false alias people use to entrap us, and the malicious theft, robbing and stealing of our identity, personal property and our personal privacy. We are saddened when people are left without a home, when people cannot feed their family, when we cannot pay our insurance premiums, or when the sick are left to die for lack of benefits or people that will treat them kindly by treating them medically. We are sad that people are sad and worried all the time, living out their day and life in a constant state of fear, anxiety or depression. There is so much more that saddens us but the Lord says to us and to those in a constant state of sadness, “Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the LORD must be your strength!” There is a great joy that begins to emerge when we consider the possibility that God is there with you, he is here with us; we are not alone, forsaken or left in the dark to go at it alone. God literally is our hope, our joy, our salvation; the object of our faith, our long for desire, the One we can trust – the One we place our hope and trust in. We are sad and saddened by so many things but in the end, God will be the cause of our joy.