For Christians, blessed with untold blessings, secure in the love of the Almighty Father, to live in joy, to choose to live in joy, is a serious obligation. This does not mean – cannot mean – we must always feel happy, still less cultivate a joviality that would get on people’s nerves.“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice,” writes St Paul (Philippians 4:4). What Paul means by joy is what Jesus means by joy, a joy “that no one shall take from you”; a joy that is “my joy”, his own joy becomes ours so that “your joy may be full”. It is a joy deriving from his “going to the Father” and taking us with him to be with him where he is, in the Father’s heart.This joy can be ours if we keep in mind