May 26, 2017

Gospel: Jn 16:20-23
Jesus said to his disciples: ”Truly, I say to you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. A woman in childbirth is in distress because her time is at hand. But after the child is born, she no longer remembers her suffering because of her great joy: a human being is born into the world.
”You feel sorrowful now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice; and no one will take your joy from you. When that day comes you will not ask me anything. Truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.”

REFLECTION:
Joy, especially those that lasts forever are usually preceded by sorrow. Sorrow lends a back drop where the joy that will come afterward becomes poignant and clear. This is why Jesus prepares His own. He shows them that there is nothing to fear when sorrow visits. It usually does not stay forever. It just prepares the heart to receive the incoming joy.
The joy that comes from God is a joy that no one can take away from us. It is a guaranteed joy. That is why we must be ready for such joy. If sorrow is part of the price we pay, then that sorrow is part of the process of joy. We cannot have one without the other. May we see Christian sorrow in a new light knowing that it is but a precursor of the greater thing that is to come, God‘s joy shared with us.