I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.
(John 15:11)
My Jesus, you spoke these words just before you went out to the garden to begin your passion. How, the world asks, could you be joyful? Your will and the Father’s are the same, and you rejoice when it is done. How, then, can we be joyful in the midst our trials? If we want what you want, you will give it to us. Only then will our joy be complete.
We rejoice, then, by reflecting on the gifts we already have. We thank you for life itself, with its beauty and ugliness, its knowing and unknowing, its stability and its vicissitudes.
Today, through your grace and by your grace, I awakened. There was daylight and warmth. I had food to eat, water to drink and to wash myself and the dishes, fans to cool me and electricity to power them. I had enough energy to fix breakfast and do household chores, enough time to pray and check my mail, enough sense to remember to make a phone call, and a comfortable place to sit and rest and write. All is well, and yet I haven’t allowed myself time to experience your joy. I remind myself that you cried over Lazarus, and that you asked the Father to be delivered from death and separation from him. You were still joyful, for you were One with him.
I think I can be sad and still rejoice, for happiness is not an emotion but a knowledge and acceptance of unity. Show me your will. Only you are enough.