True joy is not authentic unless achieved through pain — not under it, not to the right or left or over, but through it. That’s the only authentic Christian joy. Any other joy is a covering up of pain, an escaping and denying. There is much denial in religion. The old ostrich maneuver — pretend it’s not happening. That’s not what the Lord is calling us to; it’s not the whole paschal mystery. It’s not the mystery to which Job is submitting here. “If we take happiness from God’s hand, must we not take sorrow, too? And in all his misfortune, Job uttered no sinful word” (2:10). So, again, he
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