JOY
JOY 70 beautiful and inspirational meditations Paris • New York • Oxford • Madrid Magnificat®
INTRODUCTION........8 THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL........14 The Certainty of the Love of God Pope Benedict XVI Proclaiming Good News Pope Francis Living Out Our Christian Joy Caryll Houselander Transformed by the Gospel Saint John of Ávila The Joy of Creation, the Joy of Redemption Saint John Paul II Living for What Is Above Mother Elvira Petrozzi God: Our Basic Joy Father Marie Vincent Bernadot Rejoicing in the Presence of Christ Sister Aemiliana Löhr The Good News at the Heart of the Church Servant of God Luis M. Martínez Working for the Gospel Servant of God Romano Guardini THE JOY OF CONVERSION........36 The Grace to Say “I Confess…” Saint Thérèse of Lisieux Longing for Reconciliation Brother Jacopone da Todi Rejoicing in the Will of the Father Father Lorenzo Scupoli The Joy of God’s Mercy From the Rule of Life of the Jerusalem Community The Joy of Accepting Forgiveness Sister Briege M. McKenna Transformed by Grace Caryll Houselander Freed from Ourselves Father Simon Tugwell Begging to Be Transformed Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur Seeking to Be Ruled by Wisdom Saint Robert Bellarmine The Source of Our Conversion Father Jean du Coeur de Jésus d’Elbée THE JOY OF MARY........58 The Pure Joy of Mary Saint Louis de Montfort TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sharing Her Joy Saint Ambrose Rejoicing in Mary’s Intercession Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet The Joy of Mary’s Motherhood Saint Cyril of Alexandria The Joy of Motherhood Sister Ruth Burrows The Joy of Contact with Mary Mother Marie des Douleurs Our Peace and Joy Saint Ephrem the Syrian The Holy Family and Our Normal Way Father Gabriele Amorth Rejoicing Spirits Saint Bede the Venerable Behold Your Mother Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity THE JOY OF FRIENDSHIP........80 How Grief Is Turned into Joy Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete The Love of Divine Friendship Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson The Basis of Friendship Bishop Massimo Camisasca The Golden Rule Saint Teresa of Calcutta “You are my friends” Saint Aelred of Rievaulx Capable of Loving Others Mother Elvira Petrozzi Living the Great Commandment Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa The Communion of the Saints Father Raphael Moss The Joy of Making Others Happy Servant of God Dorothy Day A Prayer to Our Truest Friend Saint Claude La Colombière THE JOY OF PRAYER.......102 Growing in Grace through Prayer Blessed Columba Marmion Constant Prayer Blessed Henry Suso Childlike Meditation on Scripture Saint Thérèse of Lisieux Enlarged by Prayer Servant of God Catherine de Hueck Doherty Illuminated by Love Servant of God Chiara Lubich
Faith and Prayer in the Midst of Routine Servant of God Walter Ciszek The Soul of Prayer Servant of God Luigi Giussani The Purifying Power of Prayer Saint Teresa of Ávila Asking in Jesus’ Name Saint Augustine The Call of the Shepherd Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen THE JOY OF THE CROSS........124 The Joy of Total Sacrifice Ronda Chervin A Prayer to Find Joy in Suffering Blessed Henry Suso Knowing that We Suffer with Christ Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur The Power of Suffering Cardinal John O’Connor The “Strange Passion” for Sacrifice Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson The Greatest Honor Saint Thérèse of Lisieux Bringing Christ’s Joy to the World Venerable Madeleine Delbrêl The Condition of Love Caryll Houselander Do Not Grow Weary Servant of God Luis M. Martínez Do Not Be Afraid Saint Catherine of Siena THE JOY OF HEAVEN........146 Life in Heaven Servant of God Romano Guardini You Will Rejoice Mother Marie des Douleurs The Grace of Resurrection Blessed Columba Marmion Jesus, Lord and Messiah Blessed Margaret Ebner Jesus’ Sacred Retreat Dom Augustin Guillerand The Joy of Heaven Blessed Henry Suso David’s Son Father Gerald Vann Meditating on the Happiness of the Saints Saint Damien of Moloka’i Enflamed for Heaven Even Now Saint John of the Cross How Hope for Heaven Re-shapes Earth Saint Josemaría Escrivá CREDITS........168
8 In the midst of what is usually referred to as “the Last Supper discourse,” the four solemn chapters of instructions and prayers delivered on the eve of his death, Jesus tells the disciples, I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete (Jn 15:11). Evidently what is at stake in following Jesus, embracing his teaching, and uniting ourselves to him in his redemptive Passion involves our own beatitude, our own happiness. “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself,” the Catechism teaches, “in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life” (CCC 1). And what is still more amazing, even when humanity strayed and turned away from him for the paltry and illusory freedoms and pleasures of sin, the Lord in his goodness repaired what was broken to make possible again the attainment of that blessedness: God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). And so it is that in the final hours before Jesus dies on the cross he reminds us that it is all for our sake. Jesus, the Word made flesh, offers his life to reconcile us to God and to enable us to share in his own divine and eternal joy. INTRODUCTION
9 Philosophers teach that joy is an effect of love. That is, we experience joy when in the presence of someone or something we love. Human life provides no shortage of examples: the company and conversation of a good friend, the satisfaction obtained from a delicious meal, even the mind’s delight in reading a good book (such as, if I may be so bold, the one you now hold in your hands). In short, joy flows naturally and spontaneously from being united—sometimes at long last—with a good we have sought after. It is also possible, as Saint Thomas Aquinas explains, for us to be happy and full of joy simply because a friend has what he or she loves. Aquinas calls this the love of benevolence, “whereby a man rejoices in the well-being of his friend, though he be absent.” Mothers and fathers, for example, are happy when their children are happy, even when the embrace of a Christian vocation to marriage or the consecrated life entails that they leave the nest. In this life, we experience God as in some way “absent”—that is, we do not see or feel his presence as we do the things of earth, and we can even tragically rebel against him. It is, however, a joyful act for the Catholic to contemplate God. Pondering the infinite goodness and perfection that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
10 enjoy eternally is something essentially delightful, much like we rejoice in knowing that a friend is happy and at peace. Beyond all expectation, God himself has made it possible for us to call him our friend. Through the graces of the Incarnation and the sending of the Holy Spirit, he enables us to share in his own charity: The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us (Rom 5:5). This gift of his love also means that, in a real way, our union with him has already begun. We possess, as Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity put it, “heaven in faith.” The sanctifying grace (see CCC 1995-1997) communicated to us through the sacraments of the Church is the beginning of eternal life. We find great joy, therefore, in the firm conviction that we really and truly possess God by grace, which has been aptly called “the seed of glory.” This carefully crafted book of meditations and art will, I hope, encourage all who read it and highlight our reasons to rejoice as sons and daughters of God. Each page helps us better understand the truth of God’s love for us. See what love the Father has bestowed on us, Saint John wrote, that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are (1 Jn 3:1).
11 No doubt, we already have some appreciation for the goodness of God and what he has revealed to us, and therefore experience at times great joy in our faith. But pondering the truth of God’s goodness so as to better understand it is never time misspent. Perhaps, after all, there are moments when we become discouraged by the burdens and experiences of life or the apparent lack of answer to prayer. Maybe there are times we are tempted to wonder if God’s love is real, if it is truly working or effective in our own life, especially in themidst of suffering. The meditations selected for this volume seek to illuminate, in seven different aspects, why there is always cause for joy in the Christian life, even in the midst of great trials. The texts have been drawn from the rich and diverse wisdom the Catholic tradition offers us. There are early Christian saints and Church Fathers, medieval mystics and theologians, contemporary spiritual writers and founders of religious institutes, and holy men and women who sought to share their holy joy with others in the world. Our Lord, we must always remember, does not make promises he fails to keep. Nor does he give us instructions that are impossible to fulfill. Thus, if his great and solemn intention is for us to experience complete joy—his
12 joy—then we can be sure he will bring it to completion. He has already shown the full realization of this salvific and beatifying plan in the Blessed Mother. Assumed into heaven, Mary stands as proof of the complete joy, encompassing both body and soul, that the life of grace leads to. And since it was through her that our Lord received the sacred humanity and the precious blood in which we find our salvation, it is to her that we dedicate this book and indeed our very lives. Our Lady, cause of our joy, pray for us. Fr. Sebastian White, o.p. Editor-in-Chief, MAGNIFICAT
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16 THE CERTAINTY OF THE LOVE OF GOD The source of Christian joy is the certainty of being loved by God, loved personally by our Creator, by the One who holds the entire universe in his hands and loves each one of us and the whole great human family with a passionate and faithful love, a love greater than our infidelities and sins, a love which forgives. This certitude and this joy of being loved by God must be conveyed in some palpable and practical way to each one “ It is indispensable that the new generations experience the Church as a company of friends who are truly dependable and close in all life’s moments and circumstances. ”
17 THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL POPE BENEDICT XVI reigned as pope from 2005 until 2013. of us, and especially to the young generations who are entering the world of faith. In other words: Jesus said he was the Way that leads to the Father, as well as the Truth and the Life. It is therefore indispensable—and this is the task entrusted to Christian families, priests, catechists, and educators, to young people themselves among their peers and to our parishes, associations, and movements, and lastly to the entire diocesan community—that the new generations experience the Church as a company of friends who are truly dependable and close in all life’s moments and circumstances, whether joyful and gratifying or arduous and obscure; as a company that will never fail us, not even in death, for it carries within it the promise of eternity.
18 PROCLAIMING GOOD NEWS Something deep within us invites us to rejoice and tells us not to settle for placebos that simply keep us comfortable. At the same time, though, we all know the struggles of everyday life. So much seems to stand in the way of this invitation to rejoice. Our daily routine can often lead us to a kind of glum apathy, which gradually becomes a habit, with a fatal consequence: our hearts grow numb. We don’t want apathy to guide our lives…or do we? We don’t want the force of habit to rule our life…or do we? So we ought to ask ourselves: What can we do to keep our heart from growing numb, becoming anesthetized? How do we make the joy of the Gospel increase and take deeper root in our lives? “ What can we do to keep our heart from growing numb, becoming anesthetized? ”
19 THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL POPE FRANCIS was elected to the See of Saint Peter in 2013. Jesus gives the answer. He said to his disciples then and he says it to us now: Go forth! Proclaim! The joy of the Gospel is something to be experienced, something to be known and lived only through giving it away, through giving ourselves away. The spirit of the world tells us to be like everyone else, to settle for what comes easy. Jesus said: Go out and tell the Good News to everyone. Go out and in my name embrace life as it is, and not as you think it should be. Go out to the highways and byways, go out to tell the Good News fearlessly, without prejudice, without superiority, without condescension, to all those who have lost the joy of living. Go out to proclaim the merciful embrace of the Father. Go out to those who are burdened by pain and failure, who feel that their lives are empty, and proclaim a loving Father who wants to anoint them with the oil of hope, the oil of salvation. Go out to proclaim the Good News that error, deceitful illusions, and falsehoods do not have the last word in a person’s life. Go out with the ointment which soothes wounds and heals hearts.
20 LIVING OUT OUR CHRISTIAN JOY “ Those who have Christ, those in whom he is born again day after day, have just this one work to do: to show the others that what they want, what they long for, is Christ. ” Does not Mary say to us, “In the life of thanksgiving, rejoicing, and giving Christ God’s will is consummated”? Does not her self-forgetting say, “Forget yourself”? Her rejoicing in him say, “Rejoice in him”? Her Christgiving say, “Give Christ”? To forget self, to delight in God, to give Christ—that is the Eucharistic life, the only true thanksgiving for Holy Communion. What is Holy Communion but Christ given to us, and ourselves given to Christ, his words given to us to utter,
21 THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL CARYLLHOUSELANDER (+1954) was a British artist, poet, and spiritual author. his deeds to do, his beauty to reveal, his love to rejoice in, our littleness given to him? There are thousands of people with whom we come into contact who do not know Christ, who do not guess that he wants to be a brother, a lover, a child, a friend to them, who do not know that the gap, the emptiness they feel in their lives is there because God leaves it there on purpose, that they may hunger for his intimate presence, may accept the gift of himself! There is in every human heart, be it the heart of a man or a woman, an empty cradle, waiting for the birth of Christ to fill it. Those who have him, those in whom he is born again day after day, have just this one work to do: to show the others that what they want, what they long for, is Christ. Let them see that the Lord is little and greatly to be loved and they will do the rest. Books of theology can frighten them, noisy propaganda can drive them away, controversy can chill them, organization withers up their minds, but the joy of someone like themselves, happy in the company of God, cannot fail to show them how lovable God is.
22 TRANSFORMED BY THE GOSPEL Those who follow diligently along the path of perfect virtue do not merely experience the joy of being liberated by Christ in the midst of the dangers presented to them. They also experience the joy of obtaining and possessing such blessings in their souls that they can say with much truth: The Kingdom of God is within you (Lk 17:21). As Saint Paul says, this Kingdom consists in having within oneself justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). Such persons as these are so enthusiastic about what is just and good, and they love it so much that, if the laws of virtue were to disappear from books, they “ There is born a peace and a joy so complete that no one can understand them except the one who tastes them. ”
23 THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL SAINT JOHN OF ÁVILA (+1569) was a Spanish priest and a Church reformer. He is a Doctor of the Church. would be found written in their hearts. This is not because they know them by memory but because the resolute love of their hearts is exactly what the law speaks from outside. Their will is already so transformed by love of the good, and through putting it into practice with such love and delight, that to follow their heart’s desire is to follow virtue and to flee from vice. They have become the living law and measure of human actions that Aristotle was aiming at. From here there is born a peace and a joy so complete that no one can understand them except the one who tastes them. This is because, as Isaiah says, the peace of such as these is like a river and like the waves of the ocean (cf. Is 48:18). Saint Paul says that this peace of God surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7), and Saint Peter says that this joy is unspeakable (cf. 1 Pt 1:8). It is hidden manna that is given to the one who manfully overcomes himself. No one can taste it except the one who receives it.
70 beautiful and inspirational meditations I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. John 15:11 www.magnificat.com JOY This book will, I hope, encourage all who read it and highlight our reasons to rejoice as sons and daughters of God. Each page helps us better understand the truth of God’s love for us. No doubt, we already have some appreciation for the goodness of God and what he has revealed to us, and therefore experience at times great joy in our faith. But pondering the truth of God’s goodness so as to better understand it is never time misspent. The meditations selected seek to illuminate, in seven different aspects, why there is always cause for joy in the Christian life, even in the midst of great trials. The texts have been drawn from Christian saints and Church Fathers, medieval mystics and theologians, contemporary spiritual writers and founders of religious institutes, and holy men and women who sought to share their holy joy with others in the world.
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