We are told that Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once said that, “joy is the infallible sign of the
presence of God.” Joy is the fruit of real confidence in God's ineffable mercy. This is our joy as monks- we see over and over again our fumbling and our sinfulness, our very real tendencies toward sin, but we learn to rejoice because Christ's mercy is always available and because, as Saint Catherine of Siena once remarked, God "has fallen in love with what He created." This is true joy.
