by Sister Karen Lueck
It’s already halfway through Lent! I hope it has been a healing time of getting more and more in touch with God’s great love for you and your call to spread that good news to others.
For centuries, the Catholic Church has been aware that we all need pep talks on our journey of transformation. So the Sunday in the middle of Lent has traditionally been called “Laetare Sunday.” Laetare is the Latin word for “rejoice,” signifying that Jesus has risen and is the joy and hope in the midst of our journey.
I think it is difficult for those of us of northern European descent to truly experience spiritual joy. We have too often been taught to be solemn and dignified in church and in personal prayer. Singing, laughing, dancing – all have been suspect in church for a long time. According to Dorothee Sölle, a German theologian, in her book “The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance,” male clerics were appalled by such behavior.
“For outside observers … the spiritual freedom of the nuns and Beguines that were beyond control was forever a source of fright and at times revulsion. The physically visible expressions of joy – loud hearty laughing, clapping of hands, leaping and dancing that can only be called daring – were foreign to them. They became afraid of those enthusiastic states in which women ‘laughed and grew merry from divine love and acted as if they had lost their senses….’”
But women mystics and other free women who experienced a deep loving relationship with God couldn’t help expressing their joy. “Joy wants to inhabit us and not merely drop in for a visit.”
Sölle further states, “At that time, the Catholic Church had imposed a ban on dancing in sanctuaries. Dance and liturgy were vigorously separated…” Only after Vatican Council II in the 1960s was dancing allowed in Catholic churches as an acceptable form of liturgical celebration.
Why is it so hard to believe that God loves us in an all-encompassing manner and express that wonderful truth through joy? Somehow we don’t want to “show off.” We’d rather keep ourselves constrained and looking solemn and sad. But why? Joy expressed draws people to us, and gives us the opportunity to spread the joy to others.
A number of holy people in our church tradition showed us how to not be afraid to express ourselves and bring joy to the world. One of them was St. Francis of Assisi. As Sölle explains, “Next to love he lived and embodied no other state of the soul as much as joy,” (p. 187) He was always singing and dancing and reveling in the joys of creation.
A modern day proclaimer of that spiritual joy was Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Thea Bowman (pictured below). Using the preaching and singing style of the Black community, she inspired millions by her joy and her challenge to racism in the church and society. Here are some of the “praise quotes” on the cover of the book “Thea’s Song: The Life of Thea Bowman” by Charlene Smith and John Feister:
“Sister Thea Bowman was a song sung by God. One of the most significant figures in modern Catholicism, Sister Thea
was a radiant example of what happens when you let God’s joy enter your life decisively.” (James Martin, SJ)
“While she lived among us, Thea Bowman’s ministry of music and joy set countless hearts free to live their lives to the fullest.
Her song empowered others to walk in love instead of fear.” (Brother Mickey McGrath)
So, let us this week focus less on sin and more on love and joy. Sister Maria Boulding, a Benedictine Sister from England, experienced a minor earthquake while on a speaking tour in Japan in 1980. She recalls thinking (as quoted in "Give Us This Day), “[I]f I had only a few more minutes to live, I didn’t want to waste them talking to God about my sins. I wanted to thank [God] for all the love, all the joy.”
How about you?
About Sister Karen
Karen Lueck is a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. She has spent much of her life recognizing the goodness in herself and others. As an educator, mental health counselor, spiritual director and leader in her congregation of Catholic Sisters, she acted as a cheerleader for the people with whom she ministered. In her first book, "Cheering for the Good: Leading When It Matters," Sister Karen's urges all of us to step up and be the change.
Her new book, "The Green Thread: Reclaiming Our Spiritual Authority," is part memoir, part research narrative about what happens when church and earthly powers form an unholy alliance to keep people, especially women, subservient. "The Green Thread" debuted in September 2025. Follow this Lenten series by visiting Sister Karen's author page here.