Bright sadness

I was moved by this term I saw this past holiday season. Sitting with it here now.

Mary embodies an idea in the Eastern Orthodox tradition: “bright sadness.” This phrase names how gladness and grief are never easily disentangled, how we taste both longing and delight, simultaneously, in every moment of our lives.

—What Mary Can Teach Us About the Joy and Pain of Life
by Tish Harrison Warren (NY Times, Dec 12, 2021)