The
Joy of the Gospel
Joy—A Gift of the Spirit
Francis’ answer to this question echoes the words of the
epigraph to Paul VI’s Gaudete in Domino: “Rejoice in the Lord
always; the Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth”
(Phil 4:4; Ps 145:18). Man has been created by God and for
God to exist in an intimate bond of fellowship. This means
that he has been made with the capacity of knowing and
loving God.
As Pope Paul writes, “God disposes the mind and heart of
His creatures to meet joy, at the same time as truth.”
Still, sin has savagely wounded man such that this
disposition has been
disoriented. “Man set
himself against God and
sought to find fulfillment
apart from God,” the
Second Vatican Council
states. “For sin has
diminished man, blocking
his path to fulfillment.”
The gospel proclamation is that this wounded condition
is not God’s will for us. Instead, says Francis, “We become
fully human when . . . we let God bring us beyond ourselves
in order to attain the fullest truth of our being.” The source
of this fulfillment flows “from the infinite love of God, who
has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ.”
It is in knowing and loving Christ that we find joy.
What, then, is joy?
flows from self-knowledge. As Pope Francis puts it, “The sign
of this unity and reconciliation of all things in him is peace.
Christ ‘is our peace’ (Eph 2:14) . . . ‘by making peace through
the blood of his cross’ (Col 1:20).”
Furthermore, since essential to human flourishing is
our relationship with God, the transforming power of the
gospel impels us to communicate the truth about God and
humanity to the world, urging us to respond to the God of
love and mercy who saves us in and through Christ’s cross,
“to see God in others and to go forth from ourselves to seek
the good of others.”
But to seek the
good of others can
only mean, first,
that man be fully
revealed to himself in
relation to God. “The
truth is that only in
the mystery of the
incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. . . .
Christ . . . by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and
His love, fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme
calling clear,” the Second Vatican Council states.
Our joy in the Lord—in Christ who is the Way, the Truth,
and the Life—should then generate missionary enthusiasm.
“This malady is Hollywood’s exaggerated
version of the Christian life.”
Source of All Wellbeing
“Entering into the joy of the Lord” is one of several
expressions the New Testament uses to describe the beatitude
to which God calls man. This believing in joy is a fruit of
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our life. Thus, spiritual
joy is a gift of God’s grace, a sign of the abiding presence of
Christ, of a fundamental peace that man truly enters into by
knowing and loving God, by turning away from sin, and by
embracing the redemptive purpose of the cross.
Francis states, “The Gospel, radiant with the glory of
Christ’s cross, constantly invites us to rejoice.” He then asks,
“Why should we not also enter into this great stream of joy?”
Of course, “Without doubt ‘flesh and blood’ [Mt16:17] are
incapable of this. But Revelation can open up this possibility
and grace can bring about this return.”
Put differently, this fundamental peace is about human
flourishing in all its dimensions: foremost in and with our
relationship to God, but then with our fellow human beings,
to nature, and, last but not least, an interior flourishing that
4
MOSAIC
Called to be Spirit-filled Evangelizers
When the joy of the Lord takes root in our life, then
we are impelled by that joy to share the truth of the gospel
with others. We share the gospel because it is the truth of
human existence. Thus, “The Gospel joy which enlivens the
community of disciples is a missionary joy.”
Furthermore, Francis adds, “Every Christian is challenged,
here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed,
anyone who was has truly experienced God’s saving love . . .
is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered
the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are
‘disciples’ and missionaries, but rather that we are always
‘missionary disciples.’” Moreover, “When the Church summons
Christians to take up the task of evangelization, she is simply
pointing to the source of authentic personal fulfillment.”
This is the culminating message of The Joy of the Gospel
as expressed in its inspiring closing chapter, “Spirit-filled
Evangelizers.” The gospel is the source of personal fulfillment
for all men