Joy Endures

I want to talk a little bit about joy and what it means for us as followers of Christ. First, I think that it’s important to distinguish between joy versus happiness. What exactly is the difference between the two? I think that we all have a fairly good grasp of what happiness is and what makes us happy-perhaps it’s being in our favorite vacation spot or finally getting the grade in the class that we wanted or getting a job offer for the summer. Notice one common theme that is weaved through all of these examples- happiness follows if a condition is met. If we are in our favorite place, then we will be happy. If we get an A in the class, then we will be happy. If we get that job offer then we will be happy. You see, happiness is most often tied to some kind of worldly condition or event or thing that has to happen in order to produce the feeling of happiness.

Joy, on the other hand, is quite different. Joy is not an emotion that we feel based on how our life is going, how that interview went or how that exam grade came back. Rather, joy is a God given gift that results from the knowledge that no matter what we are going through or where we are, that we are the beloved children of a merciful and loving Father who sent his only son to die for us. Joy comes from recognizing and reminding ourselves, that our treasure lies not here on Earth, but in heaven.

Having a joyful mindset is certainly something that takes a bit of practice, as I think that it’s easy, especially at a school like Penn, to get caught up in the stress and the busy-ness of everything and let it weigh you down. We can get so easily burdened by the pressure of assignments and projects and now, final exams and papers that we lose sight of the “big picture” so to speak. We allow ourselves, often without realizing, to be consumed by negative earthly things that dampen our spirits and make it more difficult to encounter and experience true joy. Now some of you may be wondering, “How can I find this joy even when I’m not happy or when things are difficult?” and that is a really good question to ask. Pope Francis says, in Evangelii Gaudium, that

Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.

In this quote, Pope Francis acknowledges that our joy is not always going to be the exact same but yet, it still persists, even as we navigate the challenges and difficulties of this life.

Now of course, this is easier said than done and I think this talk would be lacking if it didn’t offer at least some kind of practical advice for living a joy-filled life. I can assure you that at times, it’s not always going to be easy and that the world offers no shortage of counterattacks on this joyful mindset that we strive for. There will still be days where it may feel like everything is going wrong- where we feel stressed or mad or upset or whatever the case may be. However, I encourage you, whenever you are feeling like this, to remind yourself of the love that our Lord has for you, no matter what the circumstance may be. Remind yourself that even when things may seem out of control that we have a God who is all powerful and always with us. Remind yourself how seriously awesome it is that no matter what we have done or what has happened, that Jesus died for you and for me and that we never have to “earn” his love or his mercy or his goodness. And all of these reminders reveal pretty awesome realities about God that when truly reflected on, make it pretty hard not to be joy-filled! One last piece of encouragement that I’ll leave you with comes from the second book of Corinthians and happens to be one of my favorite bible quotes

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal

This talk was taken from an end of semester reflection night after studying Evangelii Gaudium in leadership formation

​Marya is a guest blogger who doesn't live in household but is very loved by our community! She is a junior majoring nursing and minoring global health. She serves as the new Penn Newman Center President (previously secretary). Check out her past post here