Within Our Reach is Joy

Theme: Joy

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see. And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look!
Life is so generous a giver. But we, judging its gifts by the covering, cast them away as ugly, or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love by wisdom, with power.

Fra Giovanni Giocondo

Giovanni Giocondo was born around 1433 in Venice, Italy. A Franciscan friar, he was accomplished in architecture, engineering, antiquarian studies, archaeology, and classical scholarship. His work as a teacher further broadened his impact.

In 1496, he was invited to France by the King, where he served as royal architect. He designed two significant bridges in Paris, the Pont Notre-Dame and the Petit Pont. These works of engineering are lasting symbols of his skill and vision.

The attribution of the Christmas Eve letter (1513) to Contessina Allagia degli Aldobrandeschi is usually given to Giovanni Giocondo, although it is not universally confirmed. Giocondo passed away in 1515, but his diverse contributions continue to speak to us today.

(c.1433-1515) Christianity

Giocondo, Fra Giovanni. “Within Our Reach Joy.” Bartleby, Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.

Fra Giovanni Giocondo

Theme: Joy

About This Quote Attributed to Fra Giovanni Giocondo [Commentary]

The letter attributed to Fra Giovanni Giocondo extends an invitation to its readers: an invitation to seize the joy and peace that are already within reach. “No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven!” he writes. Here, the writer encourages a realization that joy is not distant but can be embraced in the present moment. In doing so, the text offers a guidepost for us, suggesting that joy comes from within, from making peace with the “present little instant.”

The line, “The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy,” speaks to the duality of life’s experiences. It invites us to look beyond the obvious, beyond the gloom or difficulties we may face, to see the inherent joy that’s often hidden but still accessible. To find joy even in moments of darkness is to unveil a deeper layer of life, one that enriches us and connects us more profoundly to our own humanity and to others.

Finally, the letter turns to the theme of life’s gifts, reminding us that even trials and sorrows come with an “overshadowing presence” of something greater. Our “joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts,” the writer observes. It’s a recognition that life’s challenges and joys alike offer something beyond their surface appearance. To take life’s experiences as they are and to look for the joy, the learning, or the grace within them is perhaps one of the most empowering forms of courage. This courage enriches our journey, reminding us that we are “pilgrims together, wending through unknown country home.”

Full Text of Letter

“I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you that you have not got, but there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant.
Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see. And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look!
Life is so generous a giver. But we, judging its gifts by the covering, cast them away as ugly, or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love by wisdom, with power.
Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel’s hand that brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, believe me, that angel’s hand is there. The gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Your joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.
Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering, that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it; that is all. But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together, wending through unknown country home.”

Within Our Reach is Joy

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