joy

joy is a wonderful thing.

i praise God for it is something he has blessed me with greatly.

some of you might not know but my family is going through a very rough time with my mom. she's not very well. and in this time, jesus has showed up, everywhere.

i am not a happy person, i am not a loving person. and before i knew jesus, i could have never imagined that humans ever had or could have such a capacity for joy. i never knew that i could love in such a way that i care for others, even when it means losing something. i never knew that submission could bring joy, that sweating and bleeding for someone other than yourself could be joy-filled.

jesus is joy, jesus is love, jesus is grace, jesus is everything that is good.

thomas merton gives the idea that just as darkness is the absence of light, so evil is the absence of good, evil is the absence of God. so sin is the absence of good, the absence of God.

i was empty, jesus filled me. i was without joy, without joy, i was angry, i was selfish. jesus filled me.


in my time of need, in my time of pain, and in the pain of my family jesus has brought unity, brought joy, brought friendship. and even though i fail my family sometimes, and even though i cry sometimes, it is only by God's grace, by his amazing love that i can experience great joy, and join in the procession to the temple rejoicing if only for the fact that i am alive, rejoicing that i am loved.

i am loved, i have the joy, jesus is. let us rejoice.


thank you for all your love, and for all those that shine your love in my life.