Coffee With God

Reflection: John 16:20-23

“You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice” (16:20-23). What’s more, they will mock you. This is the warning that Jesus gives his disciples about their future. The world history talks about the spectacles in the Colosseum of Rome, where the first martyrs” who were forced to die, even as the spectators were entertained, saying: “This is how these fools who believe in the Risen One end up”. For many, Christian martyrdom “was a party — to see how they die!”. Thus, it happened exactly as Jesus told his disciples: “the world will rejoice” while “you will be sorrowful”. Faith in Jesus is for the courageous ones and not for the weak-hearted. Pope Francis explains this passage and tells us that “not all of Christian life is a party, there is so much pain and we often cry!”. There are many difficult situations in life — for example, when you are sick, when you have a problem in your family, with a son or a daughter, with your husband or wife. When you see that your wages don’t last to the end of the month, when you have a sick child, or you see that you can’t pay the mortgage and you lose your house; or external forces dictate you on what to believe, what food to eat and what clothes to put on. We have so many problems. Yet Jesus tells us: do not be afraid!”. If you are faithful, your sorrows will become joy. This is the key point: “Christian joy is a hopeful joy. But in the moment of trial we do not see it. Indeed, it is a joy that is purified by everyday trials,” says the pope. The Lord says: “your sorrow will turn into joy”. During the liturgy in this season, the Church celebrates the moment in which the Lord left the disciples alone. In that moment, perhaps some of them felt afraid. But in everyone there was hope, the hope that their fears and sorrows will turn to joy. To make us really understand this, the Lord gives the example of a woman who suffers in childbirth, but then when the baby is with her, she forgets all her pain. So is the life of a believer, too, “what would remain is the joy, the joy of Jesus, a joy purified in the fire of trials, of persecutions, of all that one must do to be faithful”. The Church’s message for her children is a message of hope and encouragement: Do not be afraid, be brave in suffering, the Lord suffers with you; he brings you joy and peace. This peace”, says the Pope, “is the seed of hopeful joy. When everyone is enjoying your pain, it is a clear sign that you have the seed of the hopeful joy that will come”.