Christianity is joy (from Benedict XVI)

When one has to resist evil it's all the more important not to fall into a gloomy moralism that doesn't allow itself any joy but really to see how much beauty there is, too, and to draw from it the strength needed to resist what destroys joy. Faith gives joy. When God is not there, the world becomes desolate, and everything becomes boring, and everything is completely unsatisfactory. It's easy to see today how a world empty of God is also increasingly consuming itself, how it has become a wholly joyless world. The great joy comes from the fact that there is this great love, and that is the essential message of faith. You are unswervingly loved. Christianity is joy. Joy not in the sense of cheap fun, but joy that exists together with a difficult life and also makes this life liveable because of the hope of the life to come.