Joy is significantly different from pleasure. Pleasure is a feeling reflecting that instant. It mimics joy but it is not joy. Joy is persistent and lasting. A person who is joyful does not fall out of joy because prosperity ends and adversity starts. The joy persists. Pleasure is fleeting. When a pleasurable activity ends, so does [...]
"Kindness towards the afflicted becomes compassion, which means a suffering with, or an entering into the distress and the pains of others as if they were our own." Source: Ven. Fulton Sheen, The Way to Happiness
Ven. Fulton Sheen explains the core virtue of the Gospel. We are called to love, especially people who others do not love. Jesus describes this as loving our enemies. We should not limit our understanding of this to just adversaries that we are competing against or that threaten us. We need to love everyone, especially people [...]
"If a sense of guilt weighs down the soul no amount of pleasure on the outside can compensate for the loss of joy on the inside. As sorrow is attendant on sin, so joy is the companion of holiness." Source: Ven. Fulton Sheen, The Way to Happiness
"Nature, therefore, suggests that a sacrifice must precede a sacrament; death is the prelude to a communion. It was our sins that slew Christ on Calvary, and yet by the power of God risen from the dead and reigning gloriously in Heaven, He now becomes our life and has communion with us and we with [...]
"The word 'kindness' is derived from kindred of kin, and therefore implies and affection which we bear naturally to those who are our flesh and blood." Source: Ven. Fulton Sheen, The Way to Happiness
Ven. Fulton Sheen reminds us that humility is the key to inner peace. We must put Jesus first, and accept that He is greater than we are. As long as we maintain our pride, we cannot find peace. "There has been no greater secret of inner peace ever given than in the words of John [...]
"Spiritual joy is a serenity of temper in the midst of the changes of life, such as a mountain has when a storm breaks over it." Source: Ven. Fulton Sheen, The Way to Happiness
"No earthly happiness would be permanent or thorough if it were not associated with a good conscience." Source: Ven. Fulton Sheen, The Way to Happiness
But, it was retorted, if human love craves oneness, shall not divine love? If husband and wife seek to be one in the flesh, shall not the Christian and Christ crave for that oneness with one another? The memory of the Christ who lived twenty centuries ago, the recalling of His mercy and miracles through [...]