I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

We are again at the Last Supper discourse. Jesus makes three important statements to his disciples. He tells them, “You will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices.” He follows this with a consoling statement: “Your grief will become joy.” Even better, he adds: “No one will take your joy away.”

Sorrow is part of every life. As regards Jesus, we are being asked to realize that his suffering and death are not something tolerable only because we have the happier memory of his resurrection. The cross is part of every life and has marked Christian lives down through the centuries. In a hedonistic and self-centered world, we can expect contradiction and suffering as a matter of course. Those committed to following Jesus are sure to endure a daily struggle to reject the world’s empty promises and renew their choice to take up their cross and follow him.

Jesus’ resurrection has irrevocably touched our faith and our entire lives. No human experience can or should be lived outside the life-changing truth that Jesus has risen. In the light of the resurrection, all suffering takes on meaning. We suffer precisely because we are made for all that is good and true.

Finally, so great is the joy that Jesus promises us that absolutely nothing will be able to take it away! While still making our pilgrim way on earth, we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). We are a people who live on promises. But the trustworthiness of these promises has been guaranteed by the One who has overcome the grave and risen from the dead. The inheritance he has won is to be ours.

Let Us Pray:

Lord Jesus, grant me the grace to persevere amid the darkness of faith with my eyes set firmly on your promises. Strengthen me in my struggle to renounce the allure of easy substitutes and teach me to find my joy only in you and the hope of what you promise.