Joy comes from a keen sense of God

To experience joy every day, even in the midst of depressing situations, we need a keen sense of God as the absolute center of our life. This means that nothing is more important to us than God. Our relationship with God the Father is personal, heart to heart, through Christ, in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Everything in our life centers around and is subordinate to our love for the Triune God. We honor God above all else — all possessions, all goals, all enjoyments, all people. We worship nothing else, only God.

To reach this level of faith requires a whole-hearted approach. We cannot forget about God when the day goes well. We cannot make compromises with God by doing what the world says is okay. We gladly rout out the sins we still commit and rely on his Grace, which is provided through the Sacrament of Confession, to resist repeating them.

Jesus says that he vomits from his mouth — from his gut, which is to say, the core of his very being — those who are lukewarm in their commitment to the Faith (Revelation 3:16). Not because he hates us when we are half-hearted in our relationship with him, but because our worldly half is nauseating.

If we could see what he sees, we’d be nauseated too.

God desires to fill us with joy. We are filled when our relationship with him is enthusiastic.

© 2019 by Terry A. Modica

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