Abiding Joy
Fleeting or Abiding
St. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.
In order to always have joy we need to know what it is. So what is joy? Joy is not only a feeling – even more importantly, joy is the awareness of possessing something good.
Joy can be momentary – like when you watch the sun come up – uneless you have been up all night.
Joy can become an abiding part of your life like every time I see my wife I have joy.
Is our joy fleeting or is it abiding?
Rejoice Always
Joy is the awareness of possessing something good. How can we cultivate joy and become joyful?
Stop focusing on what you don’t have
Think about all the good things in your life
We are alive; we have been promised heaven; God is our Father, Mary is our Mother, we live in America with safety and security; electricity, air-conditioning, clean water, we can go to the store and buy any food we want. We have access to education and heath-care, we have family and friends; Alex’s beard is a source of joy… it is unending the good things we possess…its ridiculous but we get stuck on what we don’t have rather than what we have. Knock it off. Take 2 minutes every day to list the good things you have and thank God for these. Then call these to mind through out the day and thank God for them and you will Rejoice always.
Thank Him
One enemy to Joy is that we always expect good things and then we begin to take them for granted and lose our joy.
So how do we prevent taking our blessings for granted? Recognize all good things are all gifts from God, even if you have worked for them, because the ability and the fruits are gifts from God, so thank Him.
Causes for Joy
What are the most important good things we possess that cause joy?
1. By faith and grace, God, the Most Holy Trinity, Father Son and Spirit dwell in our soul
John of the Cross writes: ‘Oh soul, most beautiful among all creatures, you who so long to know the place where your beloved is, so as to seek him and become one with him, now it has been stated: you yourself are the home in which he dwells . . . Here is a reason to be happy; here is a cause for joy: the realization that every blessing and all you hope for is so close to you as to be within you.’
‘The kingdom of God, Heaven is within you’ (Luke 17: 21);
‘You are God’s temple’ (2 Cor. 6: 16)
2. God our Father, in his providence, is guiding all things for good for those who love him.
3. If we persevere in union with God, perfect infinite and everlasting happiness in heaven awaits us.
Joy in Suffering
How can we be joyful in suffering?
To find joy in suffering we need to find meaning in suffering.
Our suffering is not the result of random chance and it is not senseless. God, our all good, powerful and wise Father is permitting your suffering for two reasons:
To make you glorious
To save as many souls as possible.
Think of Joseph in the OT. Joseph was sold into slavery by his own bothers
God guided this so that in the end Joseph became the highest ranking prince of Egypt – next to Pharaoh – God made Joseph glorious.
God used this to save many people. Joseph had a plan to save many people, including the whole nation of Israel from starvation in the time of famine.
God is permitting your suffering now for these two reasons: to make you glorious and to save many people if you accept your suffering and unite it to Jesus to help him save souls.