Commentary on the Gospel of
Joy takes the heaviness out of everything; it puts a spring in your step! Yes, it does not last forever. Joy is always saying goodbye, said Keats (but he said it better than that): “And joy, whose hand is ever at his lips, bidding adieu.” Equally joy is always just arriving. It couldn’t be always saying goodbye unless it was always arriving too! In other words, it is a living and not a dead thing. It cannot be owned and imprisoned; we must not image that we can be continuously joyful. It comes and goes according to its own nature: it is a gift from God.
