There is, too often, an equation, in the church and the world in general, between depth and heaviness, joy and superficiality. Christian spiritualities have tended to focus on the incompleteness of life. We live “mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.” There was a great strength and some real wisdom in that. But from saying that life will always be incomplete and full of inevitable pain, it is an easy, though false, step to affirm that depth and maturity lie in being heavy, grim, and stoic. Unfortunately, that has often happened, and Christian asceticism has too often lost its link to joy. Fr. Rolheiser notes that newer spiritualities, generally, have fared no better. Superficial affirmations that we are a resurrection people and should always be bouncy, upbeat, enthusiastic, and never down help reinforce the false equation that joy means superficiality because the components are impossible to live. As Christians, we must be reminded that real asceticism lies in joy. It is far easier, and it takes infinitely less discipline to be heavy than light. Heaviness, resentment, anger, grudges, moroseness, and lack of joy come naturally; light-heartedness, forgiveness, long-suffering, humor, and joy must be worked at. They require discipline and asceticism. God is love, scripture tells us, but God is also joy. Joy and pain are not incompatible. Neither are happiness and sadness. Instead, they are frequently felt together. We can be in great pain and still be happy, just as we can be pain-free, experiencing pleasure and unhappiness. Joy and happiness are predicated on something that abides through pain, namely, meaning. Knowing this still does not make it easy for us to accept that God is joy and that joy is a sure sign of the life of God in the soul. However, knowing it is an important start, we can build upon it. Our distance from God is our distance from joy. In light of these realities, it’s interesting to ask, “Is crabby contentiousness here to stay?” It is so long as we confuse joy with superficiality and depth with heaviness of spirit. “Rejoice in the LORD.”