Chris Stefanick, speaker, author and television host, delivered a stirring talk on “Living Joy” as part of his “Reboot” seminar on Wednesday, Feb. 9.
About 800 people, some from as far away as Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Rochester, New York, heard him in the Klinger Center of Westerville St. Paul the Apostle Parish.
“Who of you here wants more joy in your life?” Stefanick began. “And why? Because God made you for joy.
“God wants us rejoicing in love forever. He made our hearts for joy, not just for a passing happiness, but for a deep, abiding, spiritual, forever kind of joy. Forever.”
During the first half of his presentation, Stefanick focused on how joy is the key to framing one’s faith and why it should be an integral part of life. After a short intermission, he described ways this can be accomplished.
“It is the infinite love of God which brought us into existence,” he said.
“I want to propose something really radical to you: The love that we were born to find, the love that every other love in this life comes from and leads back to, the love story that makes all of life worth rejoicing for, is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s it.
“Despite all the messiness in the Church and in the world, there is nothing better that has happened to humanity than the Gospel. And, really, the only way to understand your faith is as a love story.
“Now if you put this love story back in your life, not only does it all start to make sense, it becomes beautiful. And it’s not just your faith, all of life becomes beautiful.
“It starts very simply with the words, ‘We believe in one God,’ but just like marriage vows, it’s so easy to forget. Ultimately, without God there is no cause for hope,” he said.
“God is love. And what does love do? It creates. Love creates space and time. And here’s the miracle of this love story we find ourselves in, the love story which makes life worth rejoicing: That love puts us in the center of space and time. You are made in the image and likeness of God, and He has spread the universe as a stage where you can encounter this love.
“You might say to yourself, ‘I don’t know about this God thing, but I sure know that we are all broken.’ We might think that God, Who created us for love and joy, could have left us. He could have said, ‘Go ahead, destroy yourselves.’ But He didn’t. For God so loved the world that He sent his only Son, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life. God the Father sent God the Son for you.
“God created space and time. He put you in the middle of it. And then He came and died for you. This doesn’t just save us from a sin or two. It changes everything in our lives. It redeems everything. Jesus redeems everything,” Stefanick said.
“St. Paul, while in prison, said, ‘Rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord, always!’ Never underestimate your own power as a Christian. Christ came that we might have life and have it to the full. He came to give us joy.”
Stefanick also presented some of his “Rules for Living Joy.” These included giving thanks, love yourself, live a friendship-rich life and frame your mind with faith.
He concluded, “Your faith is the frame wherein you see everything: your birth, your death, your work, your tragedies, your sufferings, your victories and your relationships. All of this is in the frame of the love story that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which redeems everything.
“I’m not here asking you to pretend everything’s fine all the time. I’m not asking you to be in denial. What I am asking you to do is to be aware of the bigger reality that’s always present before us: the love of the Father and of the Son, and that the joy of the Lord must be your strength.”
Ken Snow is a longtime photojournalist for The Catholic Times.
