From the Gospel acclamation: “Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 16:20-23)
Jesus said to his disciples: “So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”
In response to the grief of the disciples, Jesus reassures them that their grief is transitory, comparing it to the anguish and pain of a woman in labor. “You will weep and mourn,” Jesus says, “while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.” The joy in this life is in the return of the risen Christ to the disciples, in his Ascension, and in the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. Apart from this, the world rejoices in the things of the world and its enticements. But the fullness of joy is not in this world but in the life of the world to come, where “no one will take your joy away from you.” What grief is there to offer up this very day that leads to eternal joy?
Father in heaven, Jesus says to the disciples, “whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” Grief and joy, anguish and rejoicing. How can I miss what Jesus means by pairing these words so closely together? “In the world you will have trouble,” Jesus says “but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Give me the grace, Lord, to know today that anguish is passing but joy never departs. Grief veils joy, but the risen Christ has torn the veil from top to bottom and sits at your right hand. “For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth,” the psalmist sings. Stay with me, Lord; in the name of Christ, let the day’s passing griefs be a means to lasting joy.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.