Grab Issue II of The Margins: Joy Against the Machine here:

https://www.stanthonystongue.com/margins

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Joy is not denial. Joy is not pretending everything is fine. Joy is not ignoring suffering, grief, anger, doubt, or the very real darkness of the world.

But joy is resistance.

In this episode of From the Margins, I’m talking about why so many Catholics mistake misery for zeal, why self-hatred is not humility, and why Christ does not want us tense, bitter, and spiritually exhausted all the time.

We’ll look at joy as spiritual warfare, joy as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, joy as something deeply human and incarnational, and why the devil seems to hate a soul that can still laugh, sing, feast, and hope in God.

This episode also serves as a deeper look at the theme behind Issue II of The Margins, my Catholic zine: Joy Against the Machine. This is not simply me telling you to buy a zine. It’s a chance to explore what inspired the issue and to bring a few of its pages into video form.

Because in a world of rage bait, doomscrolling, division, anxiety, and spiritual heaviness, joy may be one of the most rebellious things left to us.