“Joy is essential to the spiritual life. Whatever we may think of or say about God, when we are not joyful, our thoughts and words cannot bear fruit. Jesus reveals to us God’s love so that his joy may become ours and that our joy may become complete. Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing—sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death—can take that love away.

“Joy is not the same as happiness. We can be unhappy about many things, but joy can still be there because it comes from the knowledge of God’s love for us. . .  Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us” (Henri Nouwen).

How joyful a person are you? How joyful are the people around you? Why is it that there is joy, for the most part, between people who are engaged before marriage? They are in love and know that they are loved. They can’t hide their joy. Should that same realization motivate our lives? Joy is the fruit of love. When we love and are loved, then that reality brings us a sense of joy and fulfillment. For the reason of my joy is the reality of God’s love for me. Human beings may disappoint me, but God’s love is steadfast. “Rejoice in the Lord always.”