Quotes of the Day for January 7, 2026 – Thoughts on understanding and experiencing true joy
- Michael Haldas
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
“Our modernity thirsts for fun and is quite refined at coming up with ways to amuse ourselves. But having fun doesn’t mean having joy. Fun is often just the feverish fluttering of the wings of a soul stricken by despair. Joy lives by the invincible certainty that its object can never be forcibly taken away—not today, not tomorrow, never. Modernity has lost faith in the very possibility of such joy. Thus, we must remind it all the more insistently that such joy is possible in Christ.” (St. John of Riga)
“—Being happy, cheerful, and joyful in different circumstances in life—is this a talent that can be learned, or is it something innate? —It is also a God-given talent. Every person is destined for joy. This talent is given to each according to his strength. There are people who strive to remain calm and joyful in any life situation, people who have the talent to lift the spirits of friends and acquaintances, and those with what we call a “large soul,” who seem ready to love the entire world and share their optimism.” (Priest Sergei Nikulin)
“Happiness is an emotion that comes and goes. But joy is a lasting state of mind and heart. Suffering and hardship ruin our happy moods. But joy endures in good times and bad. Thus, the letter of James says,“ Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1;2-3). Joy is the life raft that can keep us afloat through the stormy seas of life…The eradication of pain is one of our idols in the Western world. But suffering is part of what it means to be human. Maturity means being faithful even if we don’t feel good, knowing there is trouble in this life and counting it all joy (James 1:2).” (Neal Lozano, Fr. Basil)
“When we ask for the Lord’s mercy in services and prayers, we are asking for the same therapy that He extended to the paralyzed man. We ask Him to heal our wounds, restore our strength, and help us become participants in the eternal joy for which He created us. We ask Him to deliver us from the wretched, corrupt state of being so weak before our passions that we feel helpless before our familiar temptations, no matter how much we despise them. We ask Him to help us gain the wherewithal to put behind us the ingrained habits of thought, word, and deed that serve only to make us and our neighbors miserable. We even dare to ask Him to make us “partakers of the divine nature” who share by grace in His victory over death, which is the wages of sin.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“This is the truth of life: it is boring and hard with sin, but with God—it is joyful and effortless. He said this Himself: ‘Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.’ (Matthew 11:28-30). “…there is no graduation from repentance, only deeper entry into it, until repentance becomes not a burden, but a joy—the joy of coming home, again and again, to the One who never tires of receiving us.” (Priest Valery Dukhanin, Savva Tống)