Joy is the Surest Sign of God's Presence in the Soul

Fr. Patrick Beidelman recently emailed this article to me by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.RR. I found it to be very helpful as I continue along this Lenten journey. I thought I would pass it on to you as well. Enjoy and may God bless our efforts to grow in holiness, with a joyful disposition, during this season of Lent.

Anyone who loves sports knows that in order to win, you need both a good offense and a good defense. One without the other isn't enough for victory. For example, in baseball you need good hitters to score a lot of runs; that's a good offense. But if you don't have good pitching and good fielding, the other team will score more runs and win. You can lose without a good defense. It's the same in football. You can have a team that plays good defense, keeping the other team from scoring too many points. That's critical for victory. But if the offense scores even fewer points, because the other team has a good defense, too, your team will lose for lack of scoring. Just as a good defense and a good offense go together in sports, so they must go together in the work of evangelization. In our last column, we looked at spiritual joy and its contribution to evangelism. But we focused on only one aspect of that contribution - namely, joy as a good defense, a help to the evangelist personally. In this regard, we saw how joy can help preserve the individual evangelist from various kinds of spiritual sadness, such as the sadness caused by discouragement, weariness, boredom, or criticism. Now just as a good defense without a good offense is not enough, so spiritual joy, if it's limited only to a supportive personal role for the evangelist, won't be enough to win others to Christ. We must put joy on the offense, because it's one of the most powerful tools for evangelizing. An important part of Mother Teresa's joyful-ness was her wonderful sense of humor. "If you want to make God laugh," she once said, "just tell Him your plans!" Spiritual joy affects not only the evangelizer, but also those being evangelized. Someone who understood the effectiveness of joy in dealing with others was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was certainly a persistently joyful person. I remember how, on my first visit to the Missionaries of Charity in the South Bronx, I was walking through a room near the chapel when a little poster caught my eye. It read, "Joy is the surest sign of God's presence in the soul." If we think of a person's face as the window of his soul, then a joyful look, a kind smile, unmistakably reflects God's presence within. For without God in the soul, we can't have love, joy, or peace within. This is why St. Paul can write: "For the kingdom of God does not mean food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17). Mother Teresa was someone in whom we could see the joy of God's presence radiating out to others, even to the "poorest of the poor." This is why so many people of various social, cultural, ethnic, and even religious backgrounds were attracted to her. She valued joy so much that she actually designated "cheerfulness" as part of the charism or spirit of her religious community. I'd like to paraphrase two of Mother Teresa's sayings about joy. First: "A joyful servant of God is a net to catch souls for God." With so much drudgery and unhappiness in the world today, authentically joyful people stand out. Others stop and take notice of them - especially if it's a quality they lack and wish they could find for themselves. When they discover the joy they're looking for beaming at them from the face of another person, they're already caught like a fish in a net. A second saying of Mother Teresa's can be paraphrased this way: "A joyful servant of God preaches without preaching." If a picture is worth a thousand words, who can measure the effect of a joyful believer on others, believers and non-believers alike? I've experienced the powerful attraction of joy in my own life. When I was a young teenager, I was considering entering the seminary. I visited a friary one day where there were a number of young brothers in training, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them. I remember coming home from my visit that day and thinking to myself, "I want that happiness for myself!" The best thing any salesperson can do to sell his or her product is to tell customers, "I use the product myself, and I like it!" The joyful attitude of an evangelist tells all that and more before he even utters a word. An important part of Mother Teresa's joyfulness was her wonderful sense of humor, often expressed in wry comments she would make to those around her. "If you want to make God laugh," she once said, "just tell Him your plans!" On another occasion, she said to me, "Father, I have a new prayer! I pray to God: "Use me! Do whatever You want with my life! Send me wherever You want! But don't consult me!" It's important for evangelists and apologists to have a good sense of humor and a sharp wit. When evangelizing, people more easily remember things said with some humor. After all, we're the only creatures God made in this world who can laugh. So humor must be an important aspect of what it means to be human. For apologists, wit can often make the difference between a fruitful discussion ending on a hopeful note and a harsh argument ending on a note of anger or hurt feelings. I recall, for example, how Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was on a train one day when he got into a discussion with an Episcopal priest about the validity of Anglican priestly ordination. (The Catholic Church concluded in the nineteenth century, after an extensive study of Anglican orders, that it could not accept the validity of those orders.) The archbishop was presenting the Catholic position, while the Episcopal priest was insisting that his orders were valid. A large crowd gathered around in the train. The discussion started to get a bit tense. Finally, when the train came to a certain stop, the Episcopal priest got off. But still continuing the discussion from the station platform, the priest said to the archbishop through the open window of the train, "Archbishop Sheen, my orders are as valid as yours! There's nothing you can do that I cannot do also!" Sheen wittily responded: "Well, I can kiss your wife, but you can't kiss mine!" I'm sure everyone got a good laugh out of that remark, including the Episcopal priest! We should be aware that people more often respond initially to how we relate to them, to our openness and acceptance of them, rather than to our message. Once they believe we accept them and respect them, they will be much more open to listening to what we have to say. This is where kindness and especially cheerfulness can do wonders! Where a frown or even an overly serious expression may scare potential inquirers off, a kind and easy smile will be welcoming. As another great evangelist in Church history, St. Francis de Sales, used to put it: "You will attract more bees with an ounce of honey than with a barrel of vinegar." Someone who understood the effectiveness of joy in dealing with others was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was certainly a persistently joyful person. At the Missionaries of Charity in the South Bronx, in a room near the chapel a little poster caught my eye. It read, "Joy is the surest sign of God's presence in the soul." If we think of a person's face as the window of his soul, then a joyful look, a kind smile, unmistakably reflects God's presence within. St. Teresa of Jesus (from Avila) used to pray: "From sour-faced saints, O Lord, deliver us!" We can echo that prayer in support of the Church's evangelization mission: "O Lord, from sour-faced evangelists, deliver us!" A bad impression, once made, can easily be a lasting impression, especially for those who already have a negative image or intense suspicion of the Catholic Church. As a popular saying puts it, "If you're happy, please remember to inform your face!" Besides, they say it takes more facial muscles to frown than to smile; so why would we want to overwork ourselves for the wrong results? Joy is our secret weapon in evangelization. Jesus gave us this promise at the Last Supper: "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11). The Holy Spirit produces joy in us as one of His fruits (see Gal. 5:22) When we have evangelists who are filled with the Lord's joy and communicate that joy to others, we have the total defense and offense together. Let's pray that the Lord will fill His Church with such evangelists!

Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.RR., is a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, St. Felix Friary, 15 Trinity Plaza, Yonkers, NY 10701; 914-476-7279; website: www.ministryalliance.com/youthevang/fortunaweb.htm .