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QUESTION 28

OF JOY
(In Four Articles)

We must now consider the effects which result from the principal act
of charity which is love, and (1) the interior effects, (2) the
exterior effects. As to the first, three things have to be considered:
(1) Joy, (2) Peace, (3) Mercy.

Under the first head there are four points of inquiry:

(1) Whether joy is an effect of charity?

(2) Whether this kind of joy is compatible with sorrow?

(3) Whether this joy can be full?

(4) Whether it is a virtue?
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FIRST ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 28, Art. 1]

Whether Joy Is Effected in Us by Charity?

Objection 1: It would seem that joy is not effected in us by charity.
For the absence of what we love causes sorrow rather than joy. But
God, Whom we love by charity, is absent from us, so long as we are in
this state of life, since "while we are in the body, we are absent
from the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:6). Therefore charity causes sorrow in us
rather than joy.

Obj. 2: Further, it is chiefly through charity that we merit
happiness. Now mourning, which pertains to sorrow, is reckoned among
those things whereby we merit happiness, according to Matt. 5:5:
"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Therefore
sorrow, rather than joy, is an effect of charity.

Obj. 3: Further, charity is a virtue distinct from hope, as shown
above (Q. 17, A. 6). Now joy is the effect of hope, according to Rom.
12:12: "Rejoicing in hope." Therefore it is not the effect of charity.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Rom. 5:5): "The charity of God is
poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Who is given to us."
But joy is caused in us by the Holy Ghost according to Rom. 14:17:
"The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but justice and peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost." Therefore charity is a cause of joy.

_I answer that,_ As stated above (I-II, Q. 25, AA. 1, 2, 3), when we
were treating of the passions, joy and sorrow proceed from love, but
in contrary ways. For joy is caused by love, either through the
presence of the thing loved, or because the proper good of the thing
loved exists and endures in it; and the latter is the case chiefly in
the love of benevolence, whereby a man rejoices in the well-being of
his friend, though he be absent. On the other hand sorrow arises from
love, either through the absence of the thing loved, or because the
loved object to which we wish well, is deprived of its good o