The 50 days of the Easter season are meant to be a time to savor the joy that comes from knowing that Christ rose from the dead and blazed a trail for us to follow, all the way to eternal life in heaven. Joy isn't only a feeling; it's a virtue that needs to be exercised, especially in a world that offers so many counterfeits. Of course, so many things that threaten our joy. In a book entitled Called to be Holy, Cardinal Archbishop Timothy Dolan identified four threats to joy.
The first is self-pity, for when we slip into that, any joy we have disappears. Joy comes from making God first, other people second, and ourselves third. But self-pity inverts that order, making us first.
The second threat to joy is worry, which is really a negative attitude that feeds pessimism and again puts ourselves front and center.
The third is the belief that my happiness depends on something outside of myself, that some things, people, or situations will bring me happiness. You know, joy comes from within, and that's where we find God, who made us temples of the Holy Spirit in baptism.
And the last threat to joy is complaining, which feeds negativity and looks at the glass of our lives as half-empty. But the truth is, our glasses are not only half-filled but overflowing because God has sent the Holy Spirit to fill us with joy.
If you're tempted by any of those threats to joy today, just ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with the joy that Jesus said the world cannot give or ever take away.
Father James Kubicki