Advent: The Journey Toward Joy

This is the third week of Advent, the “joy” week. Joy and happiness are so closely related that we often can’t distinguish one from the other. We smile out of joy and happiness. Sometimes we cry tears of joy and tears of happiness. We feel lighter, brighter, and stronger when we experience joy and when we experience happiness.

There is also a slight—ever so slight—difference between the two. For instance, happiness is really out of place at a funeral, but joy usually finds a seat at a saint’s...