A Reminder of What I Mean by 'Joy'

Benedicamus Domino!

Today, as I was searching for something to write about in this blog, the following quotation from C. S. Lewis came across my Twitter feed: "All joy emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire." This is what I mean by 'joy.' It is not simple happiness or contentment. Joy is more ecstatic than that. It is a thing both vividly clear and also elusive. It hits us like a thunderbolt, but then it fades almost as soon as we have grasped it.

At least, this is how it appears to us. It is my contention that 'joy,' as used in this very specific way, is the way it is for us because of our own nature, and not only because of what it is. If we could truly grasp this most real of realities, then we would, by our mere possessiveness, twist it and distort it until it was not itself anymore. How many beautiful things do we destroy on a regular basis? Humanity is rather a selfish species, but 'joy' is the ultimate gift, for as much as it does awaken our desire and stir our hearts to follow where it leads, it also causes us to feel dwarfed by it. In fact, in the very moment that we exult in it, the exultation comes because of its heart-piercing strangeness, its otherness when compared to much of our daily experience. True 'joy' is wild and uncontrolable, but there is also a kind of dignity in it. We recognize it because it is somehow familiar to us, but we also marvel at it because it lifts us to a higher plain of existence, if only for a moment.

I believe that we must all look for our 'joy' and follow it. There may be many things trying to look or sound or feel like 'joy,' but true 'joy' is unmistakeable to the heart which is open to receive it. It will be intimately yours but at the same time unpossessable. It will call you onward but it will never be caught, and yet, the heart will not become frustrated with this state of affairs, for it is in the freedom of 'joy' that we learn what path we must travel and what kind of people we are supposed to be. 'Joy,' therefore, is like a mirror; it reflects God's plan for us and also shows us our true selves. There will be more on 'joy' in the next entry.

Deo Gratias!