We often confuse joy with happiness and vice versa. Certainly both are welcome, uplifting feelings, but their sources are very different. Happiness comes from without ourselves, from the circumstances around us, from the ways we are treated by others. It comes when we get what we want, what we strive for, when good things happen for us and for those we love, when everything is coming up roses. Joy, on the other hand, comes from within. It may be associated with awe, wonder, delight. We can experience joy regardless of what is going on in the external world, even when it’s raining on our parade, when the circumstances in our lives appear bleak and forbidding as amazing as that sounds.

That is the joy Jesus refers to in our gospel passage for today, taken from his final discourse with his disciples. This farewell speech (Jn. 13:31—17:26) is the longest continuous in John’s gospel as it prepares the disciples for his departure and focuses on the importance of loving one another. He says, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” It is the upswelling of divine joy from deep within that carries us through the rough places in our lives as we trust that God is somehow using it all to our benefit.

The apostle Paul recognizes this inner source of joy as he proclaims, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Gal.5:22) No matter how hard we try, how determined our will, we can’t develop these qualities on our own. We can practice them, but they remain on the surface, ready to slough off whenever our buttons are pushed. It takes our openness to and acceptance of Christ’s Holy Spirit’s transforming work within us for those qualities to become effortless, a part of us so that we respond to others in love.