A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken, Proverbs 15:13.
Cheerfulness is a virtue and according to Thomas Source,” Cheerfulness is seeing the bright side and looking for the good in whatever happens. It is maintaining a positive attitude of optimism and confidence. When we give cheerfully we are wholeheartedly helpful. Even when life is challenging, we make the best of it” .
As children of God we are expected to be cheerful always. Cheerfulness is a necessary consequence of our divine filiation, knowing that our father God loves us with preference.
Christian joy is the consequence of possessing God through faith and charity. It is the fruit of striving to live all the virtues. Philippians 4:4 says “Rejoice in the Lord always, again, l will say rejoice.”
So for us Christians, cheerfulness is not a result of an easy life without difficulties but an attitude that is born with faith in Jesus Christ. Saint Jose Maria, tells us in Furrow point 54, to be cheerful, always cheerful, with a cheerfulness that is a consequence of our faith, hope and our love.
God wants us to be happy. He has created us for eternal life where we will live happily ever after and that happiness begins here on earth. No matter our circumstances, no matter what life throws at us, the joy of the Gospel should always fill our hearts with cheerfulness because we know that there is hope, hope in the Lord. God is our father and we are His children. We can never be overwhelmed with earthly difficulties if we keep our focus on Him.
The apostle Paul was talking about joy when he was in chains and those listening to him were also undergoing intense hardship without complaint.
You know, our people will say it is well when things are not going well or even when calamity seems to be steering on our faces and you are asking yourself if that was the right thing to say. The question is really not if that is the right thing to say but the question is, when we use the phrase, do we really mean that it is really well with us because we believe that our redeemer is Our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom, nothing can go wrong. Work with cheerfulness. Professional work. The work of a housewife is the greatest profession, if done with cheerfulness and if it is done well, it becomes a means and a way of holiness. So, work with cheerfulness, with peace and with the presence of God.
Saint Jose Maria says again in forge point 744, “Though tiredness is beating you down, you will finish it off well and your work will be pleasing to God. When we work, we are not working just to put bread on the table but to work with joy which is the realization that we are offering all our daily toil to God. We are not working as one beating the air aimlessly as Saint John mentioned in his first letter to the Corinthians. We are working with cheerfulness because we know that the reward is immense and we will hear the words at the end of our lives -” come into the joy of your master”.
Working with cheerfulness is an excellent example to our colleagues in our workplaces, to our children and family members at home, to friends and acquaintances.
In all circumstances, in all situations, give thanks to God with cheerfulness and joy.
