News from Good News Ministries:
- Joy vs Happiness
- From Our Video Archives: Praying with Power
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Joy vs Happiness
This past weekend, we celebrated Gaudete (or Joy) Sunday. Liturgically, we mark this day in Advent by lighting the rose colored candle on our Advent wreaths. We reflect upon the lasting joy that Christ’s incarnation will bring at Christmas, not the fleeting happiness the world promises.
The world often confuses us by using the terms happiness and joy as synonyms, but their meanings could not differ more. After all, the lyrics to the song don’t read “Joy to the world, my new iPhone came.” Happiness is a human emotion experienced as a result of favorable temporal happenings in one’s life. Joy, on the other hand, is a human emotion experienced as a result of heavenly grace manifest in one’s life. Still don’t get the difference? Let’s talk Greek. The specific word that Christ uses for Joy in this passage of John’s Gospel in Greek is chara. The best translation the concordance can muster for this word is “calm gladness.”
The joy that Christ seeks to give us is so much more profound than temporal happiness. When we understand and attain the fruit of joy, we can be calm and cheerful throughout our lives. When disaster and tragedy strike or when we are unfairly treated, this fruit of the Spirit enables us to be even keel and cheerful, serve others as we journey along the roller coaster ride of life.
Perhaps this is because the only way to attain Joy is to give up everything, even our lives. If you study John 15:9-14 closely, you’ll see what I mean. In this passage, Christ gives us His commandment love one another to the point of giving our lives for our friends. If we follow this commandment, Jesus says that our joy will be complete. Therefore, the way to obtain joy in our lives is by loving one another to the point of sacrificing our lives for one another, not coveting the hottest gadget of the season.
The worldly have a hard time understanding this because Joy is all about the eternal. It is possible to have joy amidst our present sufferings by focusing our thoughts on the treasures and the everlasting union with God that await us in heaven. As we approach Christmas, I encourage you this week to reflect upon what brings you lasting joy in the midst of a culture that entices us to live lives of instant gratification.
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Explore our Catholic Video Library for Faith Growth
Want to have joy in your life, learn how to pray with power in this video series:
God bless you!
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Thank you for reading this newsletter.
Your servant in Christ,
Bill Snyder, Executive Director
Good News Ministries
gnm.org
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Knowing God’s Will and Doing it Well
Lessons from the Blessed Mother
Daily Prayers with the Saints