Joy in the Lord!

JOYFUL IN THE LORD  

The Lord wants his disciples to be happy. We will find happiness when we fall in love with him.

When we don’t seek the Lord, then we will find real happiness to be unattainable. Sadness springs from egoism, from the pursuit of comfort, from careless neglect in the things of God and of our fellow men … In short, it springs from living for ourselves. But the Lord has made us to be happy. He wants us to be even more joyful when we follow his call.

 Joy is indispensable to a Christian’s life. When a soul is joyful, it has wings to fly towards God. A happy soul is closer to God and is able to undertake works of service for other people. In contrast, sadness paralyses one’s desires for sanctity and apostolate. It is a great evil because it clouds our vision. This is why St Paul repeats his injunction to the early Christians: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Our Christian joy will prove to be a source of strength in time of trial. It will also serve to attract other people to the Faith.

We should bring this joy and peace to those whom God has placed by our side. Our homes should be bright and cheerful, like that of the Holy Family. When people say that a home seems like hell, we immediately think of a home without love, without joy, without Christ. A Christian home should be cheerful because Christ is at its head.

Being disciples of Christ means that we are living those human and supernatural virtues that are so intimately tied to joy: generosity, cordiality, the spirit of sacrifice, sym­pathy, concern for making life pleasant for others. We should bring our joy to the place where we work, to our business associates, to people we meet by chance on the street.  Many of these people are sad and trou­bled. We should help them to see the joy of living in Christ. How many souls have found their way to God by means of this attractive virtue!

Christian joy is also necessary for the proper fulfillment of our ordinary obligations. The more impor­tant our duties, the more important is it that our attitude should be one of Christian joy. When we have responsi­bility for others, then we have a duty to communicate this joy. Such is the case with parents, priests, spiritual direc­tors, teachers…The smiling face of the Lord should shine through our life and works. His perfect joy was shown during his Passion and Death. Precisely when we find our struggle the more taxing, then it is that we must turn to the poignant example of the Master.

Let us turn to Our Mother Mary, Cause of our joy. She will lead us to the path of true peace and joy if we should ever lose our way. We will then understand that the path to joy is the same as the path to God.

Fr. Francis Fernandez