Each of us must have uttered or written “Happy New Year,” or its equivalent in other languages, countless times in the last few weeks. In an article on the www.opusdei.org website entitled “Source of Joy,” there is a message I would like to share with my readers. It allows us to reflect on a truth for Filipinos, the majority of whom are Christians: the New Year can be truly happy and joyful despite the inevitable misfortunes, mishaps, and misadventures that will cross our paths during the next 365 days—starting with having to deal with the thieves who stole trillions of pesos in the flood control scandal.

For a true believer and follower of Christ, constant joy is compatible with all types of human tribulations and sufferings. Christians should always have a reason to be joyful. This optimism is based on the fact that the "royal way" to the greatest good has been opened to us: the way to God. This is precisely what we celebrated on Christmas Day, when the Savior was born for the purpose of suffering and dying to redeem us.

Joy is intimately intertwined with love; every act of love brings joy with it. There is the spontaneous love of affection, which can even be directed toward non-human things like favorite places, food, drinks, or pets. God, in His goodness, gave us the ability to enjoy these earthly goods. We often say, "I love adobo, beer, or Boracay."

Then there is the love of friendship, which allows us to enjoy the company of those we consider friends, starting with the members of our immediate family. The highest form of human joy is the romance between a man and a woman that culminates in the matrimonial or conjugal union. Finally, there is supernatural joy—the knowledge that we are children of God and that we love Him by doing His will. This is a joy that transcends any natural happiness we can attain on this earth.

As the aforementioned article states: “Human love is something real and true, and at the same time it is a sign or analogy of God’s love. Perhaps a good way to understand Christian happiness is to compare it with the joy of people in love." They are cheerful not in spite of encountering suffering, but indeed because of it—through the constant watchfulness and loving care for another by which a person becomes fulfilled. People in love, if they give themselves to their beloved and receive the gift of love in return, are happy; they sing for joy. For the same reason, children are particularly joyous because their life consists of receiving love, particularly from their parents, but also from almost everyone—because almost everyone loves children.

People with no supernatural outlook find it difficult to understand that one’s heaven should begin on earth. Christian optimism is based on the fact that a royal road to the greatest good of all has been opened to us, and that “greatest good” is God. Therefore, permanent pessimism cannot be a Christian attitude.

This is especially important to remember nowadays, when some of us are giving up hope that corruption can ever be eradicated from our midst. To think that everything is so bad, or the human heart so corrupt, that “not even God can save it,” is a form of pride and self-adoration. This type of pride also shows up in human relationships: people who are chronically sad often do not let themselves be helped, believing they are so complex that nobody could ever sort them out.

On the other hand, there is nothing more pleasant than to discover someone who allows him or herself to be helped—not in a servile manner, but with an open attitude: “I don’t know this; please, can you teach me?” There are many occasions for us baby boomers to make this request of the millennials, who can clarify the mysteries of the digital age, not to mention providing actual physical help when our legs can no longer carry us.

St. Josemaria Escriva, in his bestseller The Way, gives one of the most lucid explanations of the relationship between joy and suffering. In this book, cheerfulness is linked to accepting God’s will, but not through a mere passive, cold acceptance. The will of God is the will of our Father, and we know that good fathers want to give their children whatever will make them happy, so long as it is good for them.

Unfortunately, we human beings do not always realize the true conditions for joy in this world. As St. Josemaria wrote: “The joy of us poor humans, even when it has a supernatural motive, always leaves an aftertaste of bitterness. What did you expect? Here below, suffering is the salt of life.” From another perspective, penance is called “joy, in spite of its hardship.” That is why we must welcome tribulation wholeheartedly. “If you receive tribulation with a faint heart, you lose your joy and your peace.”

Gradually, the inseparable connection between cheerfulness and the Cross begins to appear—especially if we take into account that the term “cross” should only be used for the true Cross, the Cross of Christ. The sufferings that come to one’s life because of one’s own wrongdoings—such as drug or alcohol addiction, marital infidelity, or disloyalty to friends—cannot be called true crosses. As St. Josemaria wrote: “If things go well, let us rejoice, blessing God who gives us increase. And if they go badly? Let us rejoice, blessing God who allows us to share the sweetness of His Cross.”

The Way, like all great books of spirituality dealing with the reality of Christian life, avoids the trap of a facile optimism-pessimism dichotomy. It avoids the over-simplifications of the “best of all possible worlds” (Leibniz) or the “worst of all possible worlds” (Schopenhauer).

In our real world, sin exists and persists: offenses against God shown in the pitiless exploitation of our fellow creatures. But sin is not the ultimate reality, and it is not what defines this world. The ultimate reality is the Cross of Christ and His Resurrection: the ultimate redemptive suffering that provides an opening for joy—now as a promise, and eventually as complete possession in the beatific vision.

A most happy, healthy, and harmonious New Year to everyone.