Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

 

Gospel Reading: John 16:16-20

Jesus said to his disciples: “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, 'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,’ and 'Because I am going to the Father’?” So they said, “What is this 'little while’ of which he speaks? We do not know what he means.” 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.”

 

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is trying to teach the Apostles about his pending fate.  It is obvious from their response that they do not understand.  Jesus tells them that he will go away for “a little while” and during that the world would rejoice but that the Apostles would grieve.  The apostles are very confused by this message.  Jesus appears to be contradicting himself in this message.  He says that the Apostles will “grieve, but your grief will become joy.”  These also appear to be conflicting emotions.  How can one grieve and experience joy at the same time.  Jesus understands that their present grief will become their future joy once they realize the significance of his sacrifice.  In our own times, it is important to understand that we too will experience sorrow in anticipation of our future hope of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Christ needs to return to the Father, but he will return in the end.  During this period, some will experience sorrow for the sake of the kingdom, but others will revel in the material joy of the here and now.  They will forgo their future joy with our Father in heaven so they can experience the temporal joy of the world. Our suffering can be equated to a mother in labor.  During labor, she experience the sever pains of child birth, but immediately afterwards, she experience the elation and joy of the new life which she brought forth.  In our own suffering, we too bring forth new life.  A new life which includes unending joy and happiness.

 

A Simple Prayer

 

Father in Heaven,

Give me the strength I need to withstand the suffering of this world

So I can experience the joy of the kingdom of heaven in the future.

 

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon