As we enter into the third week of Advent, let’s embrace the theme of the week, which is joy. We should also work to rekindle the special joy that God brings us. Lots of things bring us joy, but the biggest joy we receive should be from God.
Joy is defined as a feeling of great pleasure or happiness. I’m joyful when I get to spend time with my family and loved ones. I’m joyful that I have a great job that lets me see many different places and beautiful sights. Living in Florida in the winter time makes me joyful as well. Above all things, I’m joyful when I get to go to Mass and be extra close to Jesus. There’s nothing in the world like hearing a chorus of people singing their praise to God while being backed up by a beautiful pipe organ. I get pumped up after listening to an inspirational homily and although I have a good personal relationship with God, I enjoy coming together as a community to worship Him.
God is pure love and we were made to share in the love and joy of our Father in Heaven. In the parable of the talents, the master says to the good servant, “Well done my good and faithful servant…Come share in your master’s joy.” God wants us to be happy for all of eternity, but we need to want to have a relationship with Him. God doesn’t force anyone to love Him, but gives us free will to chose the path we all want to go. The pain people experience in Hell is mostly the realization of what they could’ve had, but now can’t attain. They experience a great pain of being eternally separated from God.
The way to avoid the pain of Hell is by working on our relationship with God. We get to Heaven by staying close to God. If we want to be close to Him, we should want to visit Him as often as possible to say and sing praises to Him. We tend to also become like the people we hang out with and call friends. If we call God a true friend and enjoy spending time with Him, we should find ourselves becoming more like Him as well. If we don’t find joy in getting to know God and growing closer to Him, we need to take a really good look at what we want in life and where we are headed. We can definitely find joy in many things in life, but finding joy in God is guaranteed to create an eternal happiness greater than anything we have ever experienced.
