Joy

Life Transitions

May 27

A Reflection by Christine Jurisich

With so much suffering and violence around the world, it is easy to forget about joy. And if you are dealing with a stressful life change, joy may be the last thing on your mind and heart. Yet this is the exact time when reflecting on the meaning of joy can be the most helpful and hopeful.

What is Joy?

Joy may seem impossible to experience if you think of it as the same as happiness. Yet joy and happiness are different. Happiness is more of a temporal feeling, dependent on things going your way, and many times on instant gratification. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Think of joy as the experience received when you come in contact with Divine goodness.

Joy is not simply a fleeting feeling or an evanescent emotion; it is a deep-seated result of one's connection to God. Although the more secular definition of joy may sometimes describe one's emotional response to an object or event, wonderful though it may be (a new job, for example), religious joy is always about a relationship. Joy has an object, and that object is God.

-Fr. Jim Martin, S.J., “In Between Heaven and Mirth”

Practice Joy

If you want to feel joy, start by listing the simple ways you experience God’s love and beautiful creation. Gardening, looking at a rose, playing outside with your grandchildren, looking at old photos, talking on the phone with a particular person, listening to music, chopping vegetables, and preparing a meal are all ordinary ways to connect with God’s goodness. It takes practice to train yourself to notice these experiences as part of God’s Grace. Give yourself time to notice, allow, and embrace joy. Not as a moment of denial of the painful things in the world; rather, as a reminder that God’s Grace is with you through it all.