Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter
“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete” (Jn. 15:11). We hear this verse from John’s gospel today and we must admit an earthly truth – we are not complete on our own. We are not enough by ourselves. We need friends, family and the support of others. We need God in our lives.
This gospel says to me that no matter how many empty promises the world offers us, true happiness only comes when we turn to the Lord. This can be hard to do when our world can seem unpredictable and painful. In the face of death, at time of job loss or in moments of sickness and all of life’s other moments of turmoil, we must turn to the Lord.
My husband and I attended the marriage retreat at church this weekend. We touched on many topics but this reading makes me think of two very important points that were made. We discussed briefly how important it is for both husband and wife to recognize that your spouse can not “make” you happy or be the cause of your happiness. Just as this reading tells us, our joy, our happiness, is only complete when it is rooted in the Lord.
We spoke of how our marriages need to be a “three strand cord” (Ecclesiastes 4:12), a delicate braiding of husband, wife and God. This provides strength, and as the author states - this cord cannot be broken. We create this cord when we do as Christ says and we “remain in my love”. It is when we interweave our lives with God that we are the strongest, most joyful and the most complete versions of ourselves.
- Amanda Grimm