August 2023 Joy
On this land sometimes called the vale of tears, can the heart meet the joy ?
Yes without a doubt! pessimists who only believe in pain misunderstand the Heart of God. On the first day of the world, opening his hand, God dropped seeds of joy. Surely sin has restricted the divine bounty but he did not dry them up. The sun always has its shine light, the stars their mysterious radiance, nature always its flowers fragrant, its tasty fruits, the mountains their peaks…isn’t it a joy for man to contemplate these beauties which remain as luminous impressions of divine goodness upon the universe?
In the world of intelligence, there is always joy in pursuing and achieving a goal, the joy of discovery, the joy of learning… In the social world, there is has just as much joy in the affectionate relations between members of a family, between friends… All this is in a natural order and “God makes these suns shine and rain its dews on the fields of sinners as well as on those of righteous. (Matth.5, 45) In the bosom of the Church there are also many joys: the joy of receiving the sacraments, of knowing oneself infinitely loved, the joy of sinner who converts…
Let us draw our joy from the very heart of God, He is the source that waters it. Joy is a contagious virtue, let’s dare to share it, let’s be guards of joyful, radiant honor! (From the 1st zealous notes of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart