Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Reflection for May 22, Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter: John 16:20-23


Gospel: John 16:20-23
Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. 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.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Are we afraid to go through suffering/s? We all are, as much as possible we don’t want sufferings in our life. What we want is a suffering free life but a suffering free life is not a possibility for believers of Jesus. For without sufferings we would not be able to intensely feel the abiding presence of Jesus in our lives.

Jesus will help us conquer our sufferings for as long as we steadfastly hold on to Him. For example, we are all suffering right now one way or another caused by this Covid-19 pandemic. Yet in spite of this suffering that we are going through right now we continue to hold tightly to our faith in Jesus. And through our steadfast faith Jesus will sooner or later pull us out of this suffering.

In our gospel for this Friday, Jesus tells His disciples: You will weep and mourn (John 16:20). Jesus told them this for His hour of arrest, passion and death would soon come. Yet they will be joyful and triumphant after a period of time. Joy and triumph that nobody can take away from them. Joy and triumph which are brought about by Jesus resurrection and triumph over death.

What is important in life is we continue to steadfastly hold on to Jesus no matter how severe the trials that we may face. For there surely be triumph over our trials if we remain unwavering in our faith in the Lord. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi sir. Just want to THANK YOU for your daily reflections. This is what i read to my family and household helpers during our evening prayer esp now in time of COVID. Your reflections are very enriching, reality based and so my children who are in their early 20’s are able to understand and relate the gospel to what is happening in their daily living and in this covid 19. Thank you for this noble gesture sir. God bless you more.

Marino J. Dasmarinas said...

Thanks very much for your kind words! I wish the best for you and your family in this trying times. God bless you too!