My Exceeding Joy!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, & Happy Epiphany! Wow, what a wonderful time of year. I love it. My Christmas tree is still up in my house. Ally and I are holding strong till this weekend when the Christmas season according to the Church is up.

Christmas break! Well, my wife and I did a bunch of awesome things over the break, family visits, roadtrip to Philly (to see this awesome painting of the Annunciation), and the annual Jesus Retreat. This retreat, ever first or second weekend in January, for young adults is a really awesome time of renewal in faith and a great way to jumpstart the new year!

Carol evangelization! Another thing over the Christmas holiday was a caroling expedition we did with some students and leaders from our UMBC Discovering Christ work. We went in my neighborhood in Catonsville... And besides being freezing cold due to the mid-20s temp plus 20 mph wind, we brought lots of joy that night to many people... It struck me, as we were seeing "joy to the world!" which so profoundly announces the real reason for Christmas, that we weren't just singing to show others are superb voices (ha!), but really praying our words of joy about Jesus would find "good soil" in the hearts of the listeners.

So that was a blast.

-snip-

So, joy has been a personal theme. Not to mention, the main tag line Scripture from the Jesus Retreat was, Psalm 43:4,

"Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy."

Next, I found myself singing a line from "I Have Found," a Kim Walker song, from a new excellent worship CD, Here is My Song:

"I have found a peace that plows on through the storm, I have found a joy, that jumps over sadness, I have found a love, that lights up every room, I have found... I've found You!"

Beautiful! Wow! Isn't this the heart of evangelization? Sharing our joy?

Then yesterday, I picked up a Word Among Us Press magazine showing their newest titles for Winter/Spring 2008 and on the front cover is a new book by Pope Benedict: The Joy of Knowing Christ. From the description of the book:

"Knowing that there is a God who is good, who knows us, who is near to us-this is truly the gospel, the good news that brings us joy. And the Holy Father is the bearer of good news in these fifty-five reflections on passages from the gospels."

Finally today, I read the Pope Christmas address to the Roman Curia (the group of cardinals and priests that help the Pope out in his role as the "successor of Peter").

"The Holy Spirit gives us joy. And he is joy. Joy is the gift in which all the other gifts are included. It is the expression of happiness, of being in harmony with ourselves, that which can only come from being in harmony with God and with his creation. It belongs to the nature of joy to be radiant, it must communicate itself. The missionary spirit of the Church is none other than the impulse to communicate the joy which has been given."

So, pretty cool that "joy" has been popping up so much. Thank you Holy Spirit! We love you!

Have you encountered this theme in your life or relationship with God recently? How has your joy affected others in moving forward the Gospel? What about the joy of others?