The second fruit of the Spirit,
Second fruit of meditation as we're looking at it,
Is joy and it comes not surprisingly immediately after love.
Love is joyful but of course love also is something we have to learn and it will take us through sometimes a difficult and challenging process of losing self and turning the attention to the other.
The joy springs up from an invisible source.
In fact the word source in French means spring and joy always feels as if something is springing up coming to the surface from a place that we can't really observe or control.
Pleasure,
Happiness in another sense is something that we can control.
We know what will make us happy.
We can fulfill certain desires.
We can attribute happiness to conditions external to ourselves.
This is what makes me happy.
But joy is something that is not really dependent on external circumstances and this is why mysteriously,
Paradoxically people can feel joy.
We can feel joy even in times of suffering.
You may I hope have felt this yourself but you can also see it surprisingly in people who have suffered a great loss or people who have are facing death or serious illness.
Quite surprisingly a quality of being that we can only describe as joy,
The joy of being itself springs up in them and gives them strength and resilience and a freedom and a lightheartedness even in the face of suffering.
It's this joy that we open ourselves to in meditation by digging deep in the well until we find the spring,
Until the spring comes and just like living water flows up from within us.
That's why it's important with meditation to be consistent,
To have a discipline.
There's a Zen saying that it's better to dig deep in one hole if you want to find water rather than to dig lots of little holes all over the field then you'll probably die at first.
And our commitment to the mantra during the meditation is just that digging deep in one hole gently,
Consistently and faithfully and the spring is there and as it is more and more fully uncovered and releases itself then it transforms our life.
Let's take our time for meditation now.
Remember again the stability,
The stillness of your posture so that you sit upright but relaxed.
Relax your face muscles,
Your shoulders,
You're sitting on a chair with a straight back,
Sit so that you can sit up upright with your feet on the ground,
Your hands on your lap or on your knees.
Close your eyes lightly and then begin gently,
Attentively to say your mantra.
Ma ra na tha.
Ma ra na tha.
Listen to the word as you say it,
Give it your full attention and keep returning to it as you get distracted.
You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you this is let's conclude the meditation with this short teaching short saying of Jesus on the Gospel of John he speaks about calming the mind and allowing the joy of being to become complete in us peace is my parting gift to you my own peace such as the world cannot give set your troubled hearts at rest and banish your fears I've spoken these words to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete
