Off and on, people would say phrases to me like, "I'm not trying to be pollyanna-ish." I never understood what that term, 'Pollyanna', meant until this week when I watched the 1960 Disney movie called "Pollyanna". It's a story of 11-years old Pollyanna who is orphaned after her parents die and she goes to live with her wealthy aunt. Pollyanna learned a great philosophy of life called the "glad game" from her dad who was a missionary. The object of the game is to look for something to be glad about in every situation. The worse the situation the harder and more fun the game is. Pollyanna tried to describe the game this way: on one occasion while living in the mission field, she had been wanting a doll. When a large package finally arrived, she didn't find a doll, but crutches instead. She wept, but her dad taught her to be glad that she didn't have to use the cruthches.
How many of us could use the "glad game" when things aren't going so well? How many of us wish that one of our family members would learn how to play the "glad game"? It's not easy finding the silver lining in dark clouds is it? It's not easy finding an answer to the question "why" when what's happening to us doesn't make any sense. The two disciples on the way to Emmaus could have played the "glad game." We are told that they were conversing and debating all the things that have happened to Jesus, especially how he died on Calvary and dashed the hopes of many. When a man they didn't recognize joins them and asks them, “What are you discussing as you walk along,” the two disciples were downcast. They could not find anything to be glad about in what happened to Jesus..
What happened to Jesus on Good Friday does not make sense from our ordinary reasoning. How could there be anything glad in what happened that day? As Jesus carried the heavy cross, the instrument of his death, his mother walked with him. When he was let down from the cross and laid in his mother's arms, there was much sorrow and sadness on her heart. How could there be anything glad in what happened? We also go through our own Good Fridays, not understanding why we are hurting or suffering. In fact, some of us go through many Good Fridays, and we sometimes find ourselves burdened with much sadness and despair.
When I was a child, my mom told me numerous times what happened to her family during the Korean War. Her family lived in the northern tip of North Korea before the war. Her dad was a respected judge, and they had a nice house with some property. As the war broke out and the communists began to overtake the region, my mom's family abandoned their home and property as they fled the region, and the only possessions they took with them were what they could carry on their backs. They were rescued by American ships waiting at the ports and her family was placed on an isolated island for more than 2 years. Food was scarce so many days they went hungry. Her childhood memories were filled with looking for ways to earn money for her family. How could she possibly find anything to be glad about in those memories? Yet, my mom cherished those days with fondness. All the suffering that she went through made her who she is now--a generous woman who willingly and readily helps those around her, a woman who has 4 refrigerators in her house stocked full with food and opens it up to anyone who comes to her home. My mom is a true witness to finding God's hand in tragedies.
In today's First Reading, we heard from someone who found something to be glad about in his personal failures and tragedies. We know Peter was burdened with heavy guilt for denying his friend and Lord three times before Good Friday. Yet Peter found something to be glad about as he preached to the people, "Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs...This man...you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up,..I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope...You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence."
People use the term 'pollyanna-ish' to mean unreasonable or blind optimism. Yet, the Risen Jesus that two disciples saw at the breaking of the bread, the Jesus whom Peter saw, and the Jesus all of us have encountered in a real way are not unreasonable or blind optimism. For us, "God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses."
