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