That One Must Rejoice Spiritually in the Lord

Source: Google Books

By St. Francis of Assisi

My beloved brothers, have inwardly and outwardly the holy joy of the Lord. If the servant of God strives to have and to preserve the spiritual joy that comes from purity of heart and is acquired through the fervor of prayer, the demons can do him no harm at all; they are reduced to saying:

“Since this servant of God has joy in tribulation and prosperity, we cannot find an opening to enter into him, nor do him any harm.”

But the demons rejoice when they can extinguish or in any way hinder devotion and the joy whose source lies in pure prayer and other works of virtue.

If the devil can have anything of his own within a servant of God, if the latter is not attentive and eager to destroy and eliminate it as quickly as possible through the power of holy prayer, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, the devil will in a short time make a beam out of a hair by adding to it day by day.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, since this spiritual joy is born from innocence of heart and the purity of continual prayer, you must exercise yourselves above all in acquiring these two things, so that you may have inwardly and outwardly, for the edification of your neighbor and the confusion of your enemy, this joy which I desire with a supreme longing for you and for myself, which I delight to see and to taste.

It belongs to the devil and his members to be in sorrow, but our share is to have at all times joy and gladness in the Lord.