3rd October, 2013
The joy of the Lord is your strength (Neh 8:10), exclaims the first reading today. No doubt, prosperity and progress are a blessing from the Lord. They are great sources of happiness and joy. But they are not the fundamental sources of true happiness and true joy! That which gives true and complete joy is the Word of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the teachings of the Lord - the holy Will of God. "I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete" (Jn 15:11) said the Lord. Jesus' words today make it plain to the world, and particularly to us - what we might imagine to be important -comforts and career, ego and impressions, status and social image- are not important at all. That which can really give us joy is to know what the Lord wants from us and live according to that! Let us remember - we are SENT into the world!