Draw much attention or at least to me it is noteworthy that contemporary art is dark and gloomy. When I leave a museum I usually have the feeling that I didn’t just kill and hour, I bludgeoned it to death. So many of the exhibits are black, dismal, and hopeless. I leave the museum asking myself, “Why are these people so negative? How is it that they cannot see anything worthwhile in the world around them?”[1].
I have to ask myself similar questions when I come upon people mired in the Goth culture or even some of those into Heavy Metal. Why do they exalt the macabre? Why do they see life as dark and morbid? Is it simply to be different from everyone else? Probably. But they also may be externalizing a fear that so many people have, the fear that life is too difficult to imagine. All this negativity, including that expressed by so many contemporary artists, is not all that new at all. The negativity expresses the reality of those who live without hope. For them life is frustrating. For them, the best that can be hoped for is here and now. “Life is imperfect. We are all imperfect, “they would point out. Their basic attitude is paraphrased by that nasty saying, “Life is difficult, and then we die.”
This is not the attitude of the Christian. Even when faced with the most horrible challenges the world can offer, the Christian is not hopeless. In the second reading for this Sunday, the first pope, St. Peter, speaks about the reason for our hope. Christians, then and now are counter cultural. We do not embrace the malaise of a meaningless life. St. Peter tells us that we should not be afraid to give anyone who asks the reason for our hope. Our hope is in Jesus Christ who cares for each of us personally, who understands our struggles better than we understand them, and who brings joy and peace to our lives even when life becomes difficult.
Today’s readings speak about joy. There is the joy that new Christians in Samaria had after they were baptized by Philip. There is the joy that St. Peter tells us is the reason for our hope. There is the joy that Jesus says comes from the Love of the Father.
We Christians are truly eternal optimists. We may be dying of cancer, we may be in difficult family situations, strained relationships, financially hurting, what have you, but no matter what the situation, we know that if we are true to Christ, He will always be the source of our joy.
We live for the Lord. We die for the Lord.
That is authentic Christian life ■
[1] Sunday 29th May, 2011, 6th Sunday of Easter. W. Acts 8:5‑8, 14-17. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy—Ps 65(66):1-7, 16, 20. 1 Peter 3:15-18. John 14:15-21.
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