CHRIST has told
us about this formula. Let’s closely
follow the kind of equation he presented to achieve this
true and
complete joy. “As the Father loves me, so I also love
you. Remain in
my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in
my love, just
I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his
love. I have
told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy
might be
complete.” (Jn 15,9-11)
In other words,
joy can only be an effect of love. And the
true, complete joy, not the fake, shallow and deceptive
one, can only
come from a genuine love that in its turn can only come
from Christ.
As he said, “My joy might be in you and your joy might be
complete.”
This genuine
love that produces the true joy is a matter
of keeping the commandments of God, both the old and the
new, as kept
and lived very faithfully by Christ and as Christ himself
gives it to
us. Let us not be deceived by another source of joy. It
can only be
fake and harmful in the end.
How can we
describe this true, complete joy? To be sure,
it is not something confined exclusively to what is
sensibly pleasant
and sweet, emotionally uplifting and exhilarating or
intellectually
stimulating. It is not just a matter of sentiments. It is
not just a
fair-weather type of joy.
It is a joy
that covers all the possible situations that
we can be in, including what are opposed to what is
sensibly pleasant,
emotionally uplifting, etc. It can thrive even in the
harshest of our
human condition.
It is a joy
that while it can be felt sensibly,
emotionally, intellectually, is first of all spiritual
and
supernatural. It is a gift from God that while freely
given needs to
be merited by us precisely by keeping the commandments of
God.
We need to make
the pertinent adjustments in our
understanding of the nature, character and source of joy.
It should
not just be a function of material and temporal factors.
We should not
rely on these factors which, unfortunately, many people
today consider
as the main causes for joy.
True joy has to
be understood from the point of view of
our Christian faith. It has to be pursued and developed
by our active
relationship with Christ, always activating our faith and
making our
faith the main guide in our reactions to things and in
our general
behavior.
Joy should be a
constant and permanent feature in our
life. Yes, it has to be worked on, but as long as our
life in general
is inspired by faith, this true joy that Christ gives us
will always
be with us.
We need to
outgrow our tendency to understand joy in
merely human, natural, material and temporal terms.
Toward this end,
we have to closely follow the example of Christ who was
willing to
suffer and die for our sins. Yes, it is a joy that is
compatible with
pain and suffering, with ‘blood, sweat and tears.’ It is
a joy that
will always give us peace and a sense of confidence even
in the midst
of trials and difficulties.
We have to
actively spread this good news about true joy,
and help teach everyone how to be truly united and identified
with
Christ so as to attain this joy. Let’s remember this
sure-fire formula
of joy.
Let’s hope that
we can create a culture and an environment
that is marked by this kind of joy, so that in every
corner of the
world, where man is found, this joy can be seen
irrespective of the
circumstances of anyone’s condition. It should be such
that joy
becomes a living and active feature in the world, always
capable of
spreading more and more widely.
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