Pope Francis: joy is a grace of the Holy Spirit

Joy is a grace and a gift from the Holy Ghost, not just positive emotions or feeling happy, said Pope Francis at the Vatican mass on Thursday.

Joy "is not the consequence of emotions that burst for a wonderful thing ... No, it is more," he said on April 16. “This joy, this which fills us, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit one cannot have this joy. "

"Being full of joy," said the pope, "is the experience of maximum consolation, when the Lord makes us understand that this is something different from being cheerful, positive, bright ..."

"No, that's another thing," he continued. It is "an overflowing joy that really affects us".

"Receiving the joy of the Spirit is a grace."

The pope reflected on joy as the fruit of the Holy Spirit during his morning Mass in his Vatican residence, the Casa Santa Marta.

He concentrated his homily on a line in the Gospel of Saint Luke, which recounts the appearance of Jesus to his disciples in Jerusalem after his resurrection.

The disciples were frightened, believing they had seen a ghost, Francis explained, but Jesus showed them the wounds on his hands and feet, to assure them that he was in the flesh.

A line then says: "while [the disciples] were still incredulous with joy and marveled ..."

This phrase "gives me so much consolation," said the pope. "This passage from the Gospel is one of my favorites."

He repeated: "But because for joy they didn't believe ..."

“There was so much joy that [the disciples thought], 'no, this cannot be true. This isn't real, it's too much joy. '"

He said that the disciples were so overflowing with joy, that it is the fullness of consolation, the fullness of the presence of the Lord, which "paralyzed" them.

This is one of the desires that St. Paul had for his people in Rome, when he wrote "may the God of hope fill you with joy", explained Pope Francis.

He noted that the expression "full of joy" continues to be repeated in all the Acts of the Apostles and on the day of Jesus' ascension.

"The disciples returned to Jerusalem, says the Bible," full of joy. "

Pope Francis encouraged people to read the last paragraphs of St. Paul Paul VI's exhortation, Evangelii nuntiandi.

Pope Paul VI "speaks of joyful Christians, of joyful evangelizers and not of those who always live" down "," said Francis.

He also indicated a passage in the Book of Nehemiah which, according to him, can help Catholics reflect on joy.

In chapter 8 of Nehemiah, the people returned to Jerusalem and rediscovered the book of the law. There was a "great celebration and all the people gathered to listen to the priest Ezra, who read the book of the law," the pope described.

People were moved and cried tears of joy, he said. "When Ezra the priest was finished, Nehemiah said to the people: 'Don't worry, now don't cry anymore, keep the joy, because joy in the Lord is your strength.'"

Pope Francis said: "this word from the book of Nehemiah will help us today."

"The great strength that we must transform, preach the Gospel, go forward as witnesses of life is the joy of the Lord, who is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and today we ask him to grant us this fruit" he concluded.

At the end of the Mass, Pope Francis conducted an act of spiritual communion for all those who cannot receive the Eucharist and offered several minutes of silent adoration, concluding with a blessing.

Francis' intention during Mass, offered amid the coronavirus pandemic, was for pharmacists: "they too work a lot to help the sick recover from the disease," he said. "Let's pray for them too."