Jesus: The Joy That You Seek

“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness…” – St. John Paul II
It is the feast of the Passover. Jerusalem is packed with thousands upon thousands of pilgrims from all over Israel, and in fact, all over the world. They come to celebrate God’s deliverance of his people from oppression and slavery in Egypt. It is a joyful time, the high point of the Jewish year.
Jesus, too, is at the feast, but his heart is heavy. He knows the Cross awaits. He is surrounded by his disciples, loved ones, and no doubt many curious admirers clamoring for a closer view of the great prophet everyone is talking about.
Then, through the crowd surrounding Jesus, a small band of foreigners pushes their way forward. By their appearance, they are clearly Greek—Gentiles who have traveled many hundreds of miles to be present. Why had they come?
They speak to Philip: “Sir,” they said, “We wish to see Jesus.”
The Desire of Our Hearts
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” More honest words were never spoken, for indeed, whether we know it or not (and most do not), this is the cry of every human heart.
Deep within each of is an insatiable hunger for joy. The problem is, the joy that we seek is infinite, unending. Despite the many false promises of the world, the ephemeral joys it offers can never satisfy us. Our hearts are too big to be filled with sex, money, power, or anything else. The moment we taste the pleasures of the world, their satisfaction vanishes and is replaced by an even greater hunger than before.
God alone, infinite as he is, can satisfy the infinite longing of our hearts. God is the happiness that we seek.
King David of old speaks of this from experience: “‘What can bring us happiness?’ many