22.05.25 Penuh dengan Sukacita Tuhan

Thursday 5th week of Easter "Jn 15:9-11" Jesus said to his disciples: "abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." Have you ever felt happy... very, very happy? Can you imagine what it means for our joy to be "full"? No, you can't. Because human beings still don't know how 'full' the human heart can be. If we 'abide' in the Love of God, we will be filled with His joy. He will 'share' His joy with us. If we are united with Him, like branches to the vine, we will absorb His sap and receive the 'fruit of joy' - the joy that all saints had. Could you ever imagine a sad saint? No. It would be like a square circle... Nonsense!Charles IX, King of France, once asked the poet Torquato Tasso, "Who do you think is the happiest person?" "God, most certainly," said Tasso. "Bah! I know that; I mean among men" replied the king. "The happiest man?," replied Tasso, "he who is closer to God." Like the vine and the branches: Jesus can share His joy if we are united to Him, if we 'abide in His Love'. When she was a child, St Thérèse of Lisieux was upset to learn that not all souls enjoy the same joy in heaven. Her sister Pauline told her to get her thimble and her father's water tumbler and fill them with water. She asked Thérèse which was fuller. But neither was fuller than the other; one simply contained more because it was bigger. That was it! Each soul is filled to its brim and can hold no more; each, being full of God, is completely happy. But saints had bigger hearts, and so, more of Jesus' joy."Let anyone who comes to you go away feeling better and happier. Everyone should see goodness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile. Joy shows from the eyes. It appears when we speak and walk. It cannot be kept closed inside us. It reacts outside. Joy is very infectious" (St Teresa of Calcutta). Holy Mary, Cause of our Joy, intercede for me to enlarge my heart, so that it can be filled with your Son's joy which I can then spread to those around me.