Where does the joy of Mary come from? What was the importance of this joy in the journey of her life? What power is exercised by the joy in the life of the Mother of Jesus? And why we say that Mary was a cheerful person?
Through the Scriptures it will become clear that joy is a gift of God, a fruit of the Holy Spirit. In The Virgin Mary you can see the joy overflowing and contagious everything she touch because of her purity that reflects perfectly the action of God. Soon after the Holy Spirit acted filling her, making her the Mother of the Savior, Mary of Nazareth, pregnant, went to visit Elizabeth full of joy (isn’t it that the reason for the rush? Lk 1.39) When Mary arrives at Ain Karen, after walking through a hard and hilly path, she’s so happy that your greeting was unusual, Elizabeth realizes that and she was taken by her joy. The child, John the Baptist, still in his mother’s womb, leaps with joy and has already announced that the presence of God brings the true joy.
The joy of Mary comes from the Holy Spirit action that give her the faith. You have to believe to rejoice. Mary believed in what God was doing, and the joy of salvation is established in her heart. A joy that was consolidated in the docility to the Holy Spirit and in the service to the needy. Joy comes before the service. Who has no joy is not fit to serve, can not support. It is the joy who makes the service pleasant, and the burden light.
In joy the Blessed Virgin Mary faced the doubts of Joseph. Maybe it was the joy stamped in the Immaculate face what more disconcerted him before the impossible. She remains in joy even in the difficult moments. How Joseph may have come back happy after to know the reason of Mary’s joy which also became his. Who do not know the reason of the joy can not be happy. The joy should have been the atmosphere of the house of Nazareth because they believed in the Kingdom of God dwelt among us.
In joy the Virgin Mary lived, accepted, offered, silenced, waited, suffered and because the joy she could see the Resurrection. It is necessary to rejoice to live the way of the Cross and to see the Resurrection. May God give to us by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary the joy of the faith, the joy of the hope and the charity.
O Joy of Mary, come upon us!