Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God.
Grace I Ask: To be filled with Christ's joyful spirit.
The Idea: To hear some people talk, you would think Christ never smiled or joked. Actually He was the most joyous of men. His life opened with the singing of angels. He grew up loving everything thing about life: the blue skies, the lilies of the field, the birds of the air, the scarlet sunsets. He liked weddings and parties - and people loved to have Him come. He was slandered as a glutton and wine drinker - because He enjoyed the food and table talk! How good-natured He must have been for children to clamber about Him!
Christ came to bring men the good news of salvation, of eternal joy in heaven. What a smile of pleasure the faith of the centurion brought Him! Christ forbade fretting over future needs: if the Father cares for the lilies, how much more for you! He wanted men to know God as a father, loving and merciful. Even though He had to promise suffering to His followers, He assured them of the eternal joy to come and even of the present joy that love would bring.
At the Last Supper, Jesus summed up His mission as "that they may have joy."
My Personal Application: Have I caught something of Christ's joy, His sincere love of all men and all things? I don't know the real Christ unless I catch this spirit and understand why it animated Him.
I Speak to Christ: Lord, give me your joyous outlook on life, your ability to marvel at the wondrous beauty of nature, to see the good in all men, to keep the unequaled joy of heaven ever before me. Help me to love as you did, and to infect others with the joy of Christianity - which finds God's world so good.
Thought for Today: "That your joy may be full."
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
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