“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God” — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

Pope Francis named his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, or The Joy of the Gospel. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis challenges all Christians to “preach the Gospel in every time and place, so that faith in [Christ] might spread to every corner of the earth.” (Evangelii Gaudium, 19). My bishop, Donald Hying, has stated “we will be most effective in proclaiming the Gospel to others by living a joyful, generous and faith-filled life” (Hying, Boldly Proclaiming the Gospel, 20).

Joy is not to be confused with superficial happiness that can be fleeting. Nor is a joyful person exempt from the pains and sorrows of being a human being. Rather, a joyful person exemplifies gratitude and radiates the grace of being connected to God. As the late Milwaukee Deacon David Backes said:

“[J]oy is a key indicator of a healthy spirituality.  Joy, in its classic sense, is not a synonym for happiness, but instead refers to zest for life.  You can have an underlying zest for life whether you are happy or whether you are sad.

True joy never involves avoiding reality.  It means facing it head on–not just the bad, not just the good, but all of it, without fear.  In fact, from a Christian perspective, because joy is based in a deep appreciation of the goodness and wonder of God and God’s creation, it is naturally accompanied by hope, no matter how bleak things may look to others.

A joyful person weeps at tragedy, but does not dwell long in grief, and does not despair.  A joyful person smiles when things are going well, but does not forget to be grateful.  And a joyful person laughs–laughs at jokes, laughs with delight, and perhaps most of all laughs when recognizing his or her own foibles and delusions of grandeur.

A joyful person has found the zest for life that our consumer culture promises but never delivers“.