Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter
I have been grieving. With my mother’s passing last year and my father coming close to death this past Spring, I have been grieving. Grief is a part of life, isn’t it? We can be open to it or try to block it, but either way it’s part of the human experience. I don’t think grief is a choice, it’s simply a reality. Jesus in John’s gospel today (16:20-23) seems to know that.
As we remain in the liturgical Easter season we are again taken back to Jesus preparing his disciples for his death and resurrection. And we hear that he does not try to sugarcoat what they are about to experience: “You will weep and mourn.” Jesus understood what it means to be human, to feel the pains of grief and loss. He does NOT tell them that there is no need to weep and mourn “because I’m going to rise again and it’s all going to be OK.” He acknowledges that it will hurt for a while. They will be in anguish. Do we expect to be excused from that very human experience?
In today’s gospel we also hear of Jesus comparing the disciples’ anguish to that of a woman in labor. It will be intense and difficult, but it is also temporary. It is followed by joy, the joy of new life. The disciples didn’t fully understand yet, and still had a difficult journey to walk before witnessing new life. But Jesus reassures them, and us, “your grief will become joy...I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”
Until then, we can allow ourselves to grieve our losses, grieve our loved ones, holding on to the hope and belief that because Jesus overcame death, eventually our grief will turn to joy, our hearts will rejoice again.
As we prepare to celebrate Pentecost, let us call upon the Advocate to fill the hearts of all those who are grieving and mourning (maybe even our own hearts) with love and joyful hope. For as today’s gospel also tells us, Jesus says, “...whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.” Amen. Alleluia.
—Eileen Miller