The Holy Spirit is the One Who overcomes despair, the One Who is the Source of optimism and Hope! The Holy Spirit longs and desires to fill us with happiness and joy as an infallible sign of His Presence and overflowing life within us! This spiritual joy is rooted in consoling love, for the miracle in our lives is that we are loved by our wonderful God, Father, Son, and Spirit, and we are inflamed by the Spirit so we can love our God in return and love all of creation which comes from our Creator's Hand.
When we're filled with a joy born from love, we can't help but be optimists about life. We don't give in to the excesses of systematic and destructive criticism that polarize families and communities. This love-filled joy unifies families and churches when viewpoints and events threaten to splinter them into warring factions. A joy-filled family or church community is a center of optimism where the members search out the positive aspects of people and events.
When we are filled with joyful love, we are guided by Christ. The Jesus of the Gospels is continually and fully filled with the Holy Spirit. When He speaks and acts, we can see how alert He is to the simple joys and sorrows of daily life, how fully He becomes a part of people's lives.
Jesus preaches about a God Who is alert to even a sparrow's fall. He preaches about the joys and troubles of fishing, building, planting, reaping and sowing, even the desperation of a poor woman's search for a missing coin. He enjoys weddings; He stops a passing funeral procession to raise a woman's son from the dead. He heals outcasts, like lepers and the mentally ill and those possessed by Satan. He is willing to get to know various kinds of people, even the unpopular and shunned tax collectors, Roman centurions, and Samaritans.
Guided by Jesus, our inner joy lifts us up in our daily lives, even when there are set-backs and sadness. Joy gives us enthusiasm to speak about our faith, to evangelize, to be faithful to our calling. We speak carefully and respectfully, but we are not afraid to speak, even though our world can be hostile. When we're feeling fatigued, maybe disillusioned by a friend, family member, or particular member of the church, when we're impatient, or discouraged, we can reach out, like an empty cup, asking God for a re-fill: a refill of the Water of Life, penetrated by the Spirit of joyful enthusiasm and refreshing love.
On this great Feast of Pentecost, the Coming of the Holy Spirit in passionate Flames of joyful love, that we celebrate the Sunday of fifty days after Easter, we pray to remain faithful to the indwelling Holy Spirit's gift and fruit of spiritual joy. To remain faithful to the many ways that true Christians are guided by Christ, as cited by Pope Francis, who quotes a fourth century spiritual writer, Saint Macarius of Egypt:
"Sometimes they (Christians) weep and grieve over the human race; aflame with spiritual love, they pray for humankind with tears and moans. Other times, the Holy Spirit enkindles in them a joy and a love so great that, if they could, they would embrace in their hearts all the people of the world, without distinction between good and bad. Still other times, a profound humility makes them place themselves beneath all other human beings....Then again there are moments when the Spirit communicates to them an indescribable joy.
"At other times, they (Christians) are like the courageous soldier, who...rushing into battle, ...overcomes the enemy. Still, other times, the soul rests in great silence, peaceful tranquility, and supreme serenity. There are moments when the Spirit grants them sublime intelligence, wisdom, and knowledge, far beyond anything that can be expressed in words. But there are other times when they experience nothing in particular. And so the soul is led by grace through a great variety of states, according to the Will of God. What endures through all these changes is the same Anointing of the Holy Spirit, ...rooted in Joy."