From the Gospel acclamation: “I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord; I will come back to you, and your hearts will rejoice.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 16:16-20)
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
Jesus seems to present a riddle to the disciples when he says to them, “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” Yet, he conveys to them the departure of the incarnate word and the coming of the Spirit of truth, the Advocate. The grief the disciples experience at his passion and death will be replaced by joy at his resurrection and ascension into heaven. Although no longer present before the disciples, he will be present in body and blood, soul and divinity, in the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper and present also in the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Rather than going away, Jesus firmly establishes his presence in a new way as he sends the Advocate.
Father in heaven, help me understand the particular place from which the joy Jesus speaks of originates. The departure of Jesus is not final; his physical disappearance makes way for a stronger—though invisible—reappearance. In the Eucharist, Jesus your Son is the source and summit of our faith and with us always. Paradoxically, the departure of Jesus brings to us the fullness of his presence; no longer seeing him means seeing him more definitively in the Eucharist and in the descent of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did go away but not to leave us orphans; he went away to glorify you, Lord, making himself completely present for all who believe in him—his joyful invitation to join you eternally in the life of the world to come.