The
Joy of the Gospel
7
Signs of
Christian
Joy
What must I do to make
room for joy in my life?
Fr. Charles Fox
A
fter the last Mass of my first
Christmas as a priest, a woman
whom I had never met before
approached me. She had a somewhat
sterner look than those who had come up
to me simply to say, “Merry Christmas.”
This woman looked me in the eye
and, recalling the theme of my homily,
said, “You were preaching about joy up
there, but you sure didn’t look joyful.”
I do not remember how I replied,
though I am sure it was one of those
cases in which all of the intelligent
things I might have said occurred to
me only hours later. In the moment, I
was taken aback and felt a little sorry
for myself. I was tired by the time of
the afternoon Mass on Christmas Day,
and visible demonstrations of joy
seemed to be beyond my strength. I
say “seemed,” because I know there are
times when I have allowed fatigue or
other difficulties to eclipse my joy.
6
MOSAIC
Why Is There Lack?
Thinking about Pope Francis’
recent apostolic exhortation, Evangelii
Gaudium, brought this incident to my
mind again and gives me an occasion
to consider the nature of Christian
joy. The Holy Father challenges us
to examine ourselves, looking within
for the joy he rightly says should
characterize the life of every Christian.
Making this examination, we will
find either that we possess that joy that
is a fruit of the Holy Spirit—or that we
lack joy. In the former case, we have
further cause for rejoicing in God’s
goodness to us. In the latter case, we
must consider why we lack joy, confess
any sins which may be stifling the
Holy Spirit’s work, and do all we can to
open ourselves up to the change God
wants to work in us. We should do this
without fear or anxiety, remembering
his great love for us.
Lent without Easter
But how do we know what joy
“looks like” in the first place? We
probably know some people who are
obviously joyful and others who seem
not to be joyful, those “whose lives
seem like Lent without Easter” (EG, no.
6). Do not many people, however, seem
to be somewhere in-between? How do
I know whether I am experiencing the
kind of joy our Catholic tradition says I
ought to be experiencing?
We probably sense that the
appearance of joy registers somewhere
on the temperamental spectrum
between frivolity and abject sadness,
but a