So faith in Jesus as our Saviour must come first before thankfulness and joy in him as a Person can follow.  It is the same with one’s joy in the Eucharist.  When we realise – and are convinced – that in the Eucharist we offer Our Saviour to God and that Our Saviour himself presents us to his Father in the innermost sanctuary of Heaven, then we enter into the joy which Christians in every century have found.

And this close association between faith and joy is true also of our Communions.  Without a robust faith in the Real Presence of Our Ascended Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, making one’s Communion is an impersonal, formal, even cold occasion: but warmed by that faith, it is the most precious moment in life.

Of course, there are times when our faith is feeble and our joy non-existent.  But it is then that our relationship with God is put to the test.  And God allows us to be tested, partly that we may learn to seek him for himself alone – just because he is God – and not with the selfish motive of expecting comfort or joy in return; and partly in order to strengthen our faith by having it put to the trial.  For when one’s faith has reached breaking point but has not broken, then one’s attachment to God is immeasurably stronger than it would otherwise have been.

At such a testing time, we must anchor ourselves securely to God by making frequent use of the prayer, “Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).  And if we persevere doggedly and tenaciously, our faith will be given back to us firmer and stronger than ever and with it comfort and joy in the Lord will come flooding in again.  And we shall experience for ourselves this truth: that though heaviness may endure for a night, and though that night be long, yet joy cometh in the morning (Psalm 30:5).