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| Image credit: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov |
Spiritual reflection by Catherine Doherty, selected by Deacon Steve.
Joy is very quiet and full of wonder. It is like a light that shines in the darkness and is connected with hope and with love.
To give you an idea of my joyous moments, the first occurs when I wake up every morning with the incredible thought that here God has granted me another day to love him and to serve him.
Simultaneously, other thoughts come to me from my own humanity and emotions. They creep in like shadows over the shining light of my joy.
They whisper, “Look, you are going to have a whole day full of problems. You are going to have to be in four places at once,” and so on. Through these whispers, the whole weight of the day and of my duties creep in.
But joy smiles. I know that I do not have to face all those things at once, that these too are works of love for Christ’s sake, that all I have to worry about is doing the duty of the moment as it comes to me with love and enthusiasm for Love’s sake- for Christ’s sake.
- Catherine Doherty, “Grace in Every Season”, November 26th, p.311,2001, Madonna House Publications
As we come to the end of the Liturgical Season and the beginning of Advent, with all the busy-ness of the Season, I pray we will all grow in that deeper joy, which keeps all of our “doings” in perspective.
God bless. Deacon Steve