How do we understand true spiritual joy?

  • Thread starter Thread starter whitecrayon
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
W

whitecrayon

Guest
i believe that god has taught me over the past several years that there are differences between true sacred spiritual joys, such as those joys i experience when i receive a gift of providence or some lesson from him, and joys of the flesh (which may or may not be spiritual, and which may or may not be sacred or confusing or even blasphemous, depending upon whether god wanted us to enjoy them and to learn and to love from them), and false joys (such as the evil pleasures that evil persons and evil spirits derive from hurting, humiliating, threatening, blaspheming, etc others).

i would like to know if any reader of this thread has any information or any leads to good literature (online or elsewhere) which might provide me and possibly others with a specific understanding of what the holy church has to say about joy, specifically about what joys we as good christians ought to be seeking and to be thankful for, along with any other lessons or wisdom concerning how to treat the nonsacred joys of the spirit, mind and flesh which we may experience throughout our lives as well, as simple creatures who at times cannot understand the differences perfectly well, such as physical joys experienced during sex or eating, or mental joys experienced over mundane things like getting a raise or performing well in school, or spiritual joys experienced from spiritual triumphs which god granted us the strength to achieve even though we believed our spirits triumphed alone, etc.

i know that this question, as presented here, is rather complex, but it is, to my mind, a very serious question for all serious catholics and maybe a few other serious christians who hope to examine the truth about our natures and god’s expectations and even god’s love of our sacred joys seriously.

whitecrayon
 
regarding those joys i listed in my original post in this thread (above) which i listed as nonsacred: i wonder now, just minutes after making the original post, whether some of those joys, even if they are not holy moments of shared joy with the father, nevertheless may be, depending upon circumstances, sacred joys or at least joys we should not regret. sexual pleasures with a husband or wife, getting a raise, performing well at school, and triumphing spiritually (even with god’s help) are probably all good joys. i think i may have confused the whole concept of spiritual joy by trying to limit it to only very holy moments.

i guess the only real dividing line ought to be between just basic “good” joys (however holy or sacred or mundane) and basic “bad” joys (such as from harmful or hurtful things, especially things done to others which give some some sort of evil pleasure).

also, about the “good” joys: maybe the “good” joys are those joys which we share with others whom we truly love or care about to some degree, and maybe those truly “holy” joys are those we share with god alone, like when we first take spiritual communion with him in a way that resonates in our souls.

with love
whitecrayon
 
I can share my personal experience with you and that’s about it.

About four years ago, it started happening, sometimes after I receive communion or after confession tears of joy roll down my cheeks. I remember once I was walking home on a beautiful spring day from confession and the tears of joy just poured out of my eyes. I was embarrassed because I was just about to walk by a family that was playing on their front yard and I did not want them to think that I was crying or sad and I just did not want the tears to keep rolling. I made it pass the family just fine.

The spiritual joys that I experience sometimes after Confession or receiving the Eucharist is not connected nor caused by emotions. The joy make my heart burn and it feels lifted and it is joy and the tears roll. It’s beyond happiness! I cannot make it happen nor stop it. When it happens it happens and I receive it as a gift from His Majesty Our Lord Jesus Christ. Although, after asking people what that was I was told that it is an ‘out pouring of the Holy Spirit’ since I am close to Our Lord, I also understand that he has a lot to do with it too and so I thank Him and the Holy Spirit.

Peace,

Abba
 
thank you, abba, very much. your description of your experiences of joy matches up well with mine. i, too, have been blessed by what i just call “the lord god almighty” (i am not expert in the trinity at all, but i am sure when you say that your joy comes from jesus christ, it means the same thing) with a deep, soulful, beautiful joy which sometimes comes out of me in a state of sorrow (with me in tears, whether tears of joy or tears of sorrow for others which still fill my heart with spiritual pleasure) or in a state of joy (with me rejoicing, usually privately and as meekly as possible, smiling and laughing at some triumph the lord has scored through me). that’s why i brought up the rather strange question in this thread in the first place. once you’ve experienced a real soulful joy with the lord in private, it’s hard to understand how to treat the other less holy joys that we all experience, and which most people strive for constantly or often, such as the joys of eating or sleeping, etc.

until heaven
whitecrayon
 
I’m not sure this will answer the question in the OP, but in a personal sense, I’ve experienced spiritual joy so intense that it maybe lasted as long a minute when I felt a joyful love of God and felt united to Him. Then it leaves as quickly as it came. It used to happen more often, especially when I was trying to decide what to do with my life in my youth, although here and there even now, I experience that same joy usually during concentrated prayer or meditation during holy hour, although it can happen suddenly like when enjoying a religious picture.

That may explain the experiential effect of joy, but it doesn’t really answer the question “how do we understand true spiritual joy?” My simple answer would be that it is beyond our understanding in that it comes directly from God in the form of contemplation. Hopefully, that will help.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top