Gaudate! :D

Happy 3rd week of Advent, the week of joy!

Here are some great quotes about joy from some awesome people, the saints (and blessed)! I think it's safe to say they're pretty much experts on joy.

We are not saints yet, but we, too, should beware. Uprightness and virtue do have their rewards, in self-respect and in respect from others, and it is easy to find ourselves aiming for the result rather than the cause. Let us aim for joy, rather than respectability. Let us make fools of ourselves from time to time, and thus see ourselves, for a moment, as the all-wise God sees us.  - St. Philip Neri

 "We are at Jesus’ disposal. If he wants you to be sick in bed, if he wants you to proclaim His work in the street, if he wants you to clean the toilets all day, that’s all right, everything is all right. We must say, 'I belong to you. You can do whatever you like.'  And this is our strength. This is the joy of the Lord." -- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Also by Blessed Mother Teresa: Joy is a net of love by which we catch souls.

For one pain endured with joy, we shall love the good God more forever. - St. Therese of Lisieux

And of course, I can't blog about joy without mentioning Fr. Baker's old homily on joy and its definition, which I think he might be drawing from St. John, but I'm not really sure (I can't find a clear source anywhere and I probably shouldn't call Fr. Baker just to ask him who he quoted in a homily like 4 years ago). Anyway, Fr. Baker gave an excellent homily once where he said that joy is not mere happiness. It is the state of being with one's beloved. Therefore, ultimate joy is found in being with Christ, not in any emotional high. The closer we get to Christ, the closer we get to the fountain of all true joy. Thus, we often feel most at peace not when we have gotten everything we ever wanted but when we have given away everything we have. (I don't think that last part was in the homily - I'm just extrapolating).

I'm praying for you! May you have lasting peace and joy, and may your joy catch many souls for Christ!

:) 

"We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what is falling apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way."
— St. Francis of Assisi

I'm praying for you!

:)

A poem by Fulton Sheen

I slipped His fingers
I escaped His feet. 
I ran and hid for Him I feared to meet. 
One day I passed Him, fettered on a tree. 
He turned His head and looked and beckoned me. 
Neither by seed or strength could He prevail. 
Each hand and foot was pinioned by a nail. 
He could not run nor clasped me if He tried,
but with His eyes, He bade me reach His side.  
‘For pity sake’, thought I, ‘I’ll set you free.’ 
‘Ney, take this Cross,’ said He, ‘and follow Me.’ 
And so did I follow Him who could not move,
an uncaught captive in the hands of Love.

- Archbishop Fulton Sheen

I'm praying for you!

:)