Returning to Scripture, Galatians 5:22-23 says: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.” There it is. One clear difference between joy and happiness. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Happiness is not.

You can make yourself feel happy. Eat a favorite meal, complete a long-term project, take a nap on a warm summer day in a hammock. Do things like that and you will feel happy.

“Joy doesn’t come from you. Joy isn’t a feeling. It’s not a fleeting pleasure or jolt of high emotion the way happiness is. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is active in your life, you feel joy, as well as peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, self-control, and all the other fruits of the Holy Spirit. To experience joy, you need the Holy Spirit.” Source: Dominick Albano, Accession Press, September 2019

So let’s Invite the Spirit in!

The Holy Spirit will enable us to live out our vocation and so have Joy, whatever our vocation in life is. Whether that vocation is to the priesthood of Jesus Christ, or in marriage, in the single state, or in religious life— when we do what God desires for us in this life, we shall know and experience Joy. Let us remember the words of our parish’s patron saint, Catherine of Siena: “Be who God meant you to be, and you shall set the world on fire.” And to quote another saint, Pope St. John Paul the Great, the way to begin living out our vocation—and coming to know it is—in prayer. The late pope said: “From the time I was little, I learned to pray to the Holy Spirit. When I was 11, I was feeling sad because I was having a lot of trouble with math. My dad showed me in a little book the hymn ‘Veni Creator Spiritus,’ and he told me, ‘Pray this and you’ll see that He’ll help you to understand.’ I’ve been praying this hymn every day for more than 40 years, and I’ve seen how much the Divine Spirit helps us.”

The Catholic Church has always taught us that to come to know God we must first learn to speak with Him. And that is what prayer is, a conversation or dialogue with God. And just like with your best friends, you only get to know them and understand them when you spend time with them in conversation-and similarly with God. Prayer, is the key to knowing God. Yes, we can pray alone at home or along the beach or on a mountain top, but Christ—who instituted the Church—calls us to pray in church. We call this public prayer, where together we dialogue with God in a family setting—there is no greater family time then being together with God in church.

In Church we hear the Word of God in the readings proclaimed. In Church we hear the Word of God being broken open and applied to our modern lives in the priest’s homily. In Church we receive the Word made flesh in the Eucharistic Meal, instituted by Christ Himself, for our benefit. In Church we offer our praise and worship of God the Father. And in Church, we build community of like-minded people to support one another as we go out into the world and bring the Lord to others in our outreach and prayer.

So what is my real wish for all of us in the New Year? Certainly it is to find and receive God’s Eternal Gladness or Joy. But it cannot be had with a return to a regular practice of the faith. Habits are powerful. Ritual is powerful. Faith is beyond powerful in our lives.

So here is my prayer for us all: Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth…in me and my family. Come Holy Spirit and return us to the worship of God in church, to receive the God I desperately need in both Word and Sacrament. Come Holy Spirit and lead me to be the Body of Christ on earth. Come Holy Spirit and renew me in Eternal Joy! Amen!

Joyful New Year to all!