Joy, love and friendship with the Lord

There is a close relationship between joy and charity. The interaction between them is very interesting: Joy left without charity loses its character and inner beauty; charity without joy is incomplete.
When we look closer at the nature of joyfulness, we see it as the basic expression of simplicity, purity and meekness of God’s children who are in the presence of the Almighty. It is a witness of our remaining in Jesus Christ. Darker moments of our life show us more how much we are immersed in Him.
Indeed, Christian joy comes from faithfulness to Christ and adhering to Him. It is linked with inner experience of being called to friendship, to sainthood on a very personal level. Joy of drawing juices of friendship with Christ is enormous. Christ is the vine; we are the branches. If we add that there are some vine roots  which reach up to 50 meters, we can imagine how deeply might we be rooted in the Lord to be able to draw the sweet root juice of the Loving Presence. Probably because of that St Teresa of Avila said: “From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.”
Fr. Stan