Joy at our Center

"These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." John 15:11

Jesus declares the centrality of joy in the spirituality of life.

St. Paul calls it one of the gifts of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).

Joy is not the same as sensual pleasure which remains little-self-centered, narrowly exciting, and without fruit for the soul and community. Joy is God-centered, calmly expansive of the spiritual heart, potentially present regardless of external circumstances (including physical, mental, and social suffering), and full of appreciation for creation. At its graced fullness there is no longer a possessor or giver of joy, there is just a pervasive, unrestricted awareness that is joy.
The fact that we exist and that we witness creation speaks to an unmerited overflow of God's joy. Everything that "is" in creation emerges from God's love -- a divine heart that swells with joy. We know (and often experience first hand) that the joy is marred by a resistant darkness. Still by its nature, which originates in God, joy cannot be destroyed.
Look at the ripples of emotion that affect your waking hours. How can you be more open to God's love (Joy)? What attitudes, expectations or conditions mar that joy or block your awareness of its presence?
By staying centered in Christ, you are more fully equipped to see and embrace joyful living, even when circumstances threaten happiness. Joy is the indelible mark of life that lives freely out of its Creator rather than out of one's own self-determined identification of what constitutes pleasure, satisfaction or happiness.
I pray that your days are "joy-full"...