Jesus is not shy about talking about the sorrow of life but he also promised joy, a joy that will not be taken away. Here’s today’s reflection from the daily Mass.
Readings for Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter can be found here
“When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions,” wrote Shakespeare in his play, Hamlet. The words are spoken by King Claudius as he responds to a series of crises. Polonius, his court councillor is dead, leaving behind his children, Ophelia, who has gone mad, and Laertes, who has returned to threaten Claudius’s rule. Sorrow upon sorrow is stacking up. It never rains but it pours.
In the gospel reading, Jesus is not shy about talking about the sorrows his disciples will experience. It is as inevitable as the pain of childbirth. But something new is happening and soon sorrow will turn to joy, just as a mother’s pain is assuaged by their new born baby. Likewise, the threats that St Paul experiences on his missionary journeys is evident, and in other passages from Acts we find him in prison, flogged and shipwrecked. He also speaks of having a thorn in the flesh which he carried with him throughout his life. But still he continues, moving onwards to proclaim the good news of Jesus.
Throughout our lives, all of us will experience varying degrees of sorrow. From simple disappointments to deep grief, from aches and pains to something more serious. Our life with Christ does not promise us a pain free experience of the world, and some of the sacrifices we are called to make for Christ may indeed cost us dearly. However, what he does promise us is that joy will come, a joy that no one or nothing can take from us. As we present our needs and concerns to God in prayer each day, in that day, says Jesus, when we experience the joy he promises, we will ask nothing of him. The battalion of sorrows will be behind us.
Mass today is in S Saviour’s Church at 10am
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