As I sat down to do this blog about joy, I had planned to use a different picture. But as I listened to an email from one of my sisters, I turned from the computer and wow! this sunset caught my attention. As the sun moves further south on the horizon, it is setting behind some trees. So I had to go down to the water's edge to get this perspective.
I reflected today on the 2nd reading for this Sunday from Paul's Letter to the Phillippians (4:4-7). "Rejoice in the Lord always," he begins, "Again I say, Rejoice!" He apparently read my blog yesterday because he says, "Do not worry about anything." The source of all this joy is that the Lord is present within us and God is looking out for us and all of our needs. "The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Sunday is Rejoice (Gaudete) Sunday. In the 1st reading the prophet Zephaniah proclaims, "Shout for joy...Sing joyfully...Be glad and exult with all your heart....The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty savior; he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, he will sing joyfully because of you."
Today is 12/12/12, the last triple date that many of us will see in our lifetime. Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe who has brought joy for 400 years to the people of Mexico and the Caribbean.
The first blog that I wrote in April, 2007, was titled "Joy." Several times since then I have reflected on it here. Joy is something deeper and more lasting than happiness. We can feel joy even in the midst of troubles and problems. I notice, too, that even in the best of times, joy carries with it a kind of ache in our hearts. I think the ache comes from our hearts' not being able to contain all the Goodness or Beauty that we are experiencing. In that first blog more than five years ago I quoted Teilhard de Chardin: "Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God."
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