“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.” (JN 16: 22)
Our future is with Our Lord in Heaven where we will see Him and our “hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from us.” Whenever we have difficult days, troubles or conflicts, we need to remember that our permanent joy is coming, and He will take care of everything. Our future is with Him.
“Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
Our Lord came to us to save us and remind us that our future is with Him in Heaven and that we are called and invited to bear fruit. It doesn’t mean that everything here on earth will be easy and nice: “I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve…” It means, fortunately, that when we are with Him and when we put our trust in Him and are united with Him, “our grief will become joy.”
“I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord; I will come back to you, and your hearts will rejoice.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.” (JN 16: 12-13)
We need desperately “the Spirit of truth”; we need Someone Who “will guide us to all truth.” We can see things only from our own perspective, but “the Spirit of truth” can show us a bigger perspective, God’s plan for us and for our world. With Him we can see more and further.
“I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.” (Gospel Acclamation
“Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (JN 16: 5-7)
We are always loved, always protected and always led to Heaven–loved by God the Father, saved and protected by Our Lord and led to Heaven by the Holy Spirit. All the Holy Trinity is with us, and every One of them wants us to be with Them for eternity. How blessed we are.
“I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord; he will guide you to all truth.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” (JN 15: 26-27)
Our role is to “testify” because we have experienced how much we are loved. Our Lord changed our lives, bringing us faith, hope and love. We can share this within our families; we can share this with our coworkers, with our friends and with people we meet. We are not alone; “the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.” Whenever we are in a difficult situation, we can always ask Him for help.
“The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord, and you also will testify.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 JN 4: 7-8)
Sometimes people make a mistake; they think if “God is love” we can simply reverse it to—love is God, and they do whatever they want because love is their “God.” It is true: “God is love,” but “love is of God.” When we accept God’s love, when we learn from Him—“because love is of God”—and when we “love one another,” we “know God” and we can love properly.
“Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we will come to him.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.” (JN 15: 20-21)
Everything in Our Lord’s life was about His Father; He came to tell us about His love and how much He wanted us to be with Him in Heaven for eternity. Like God’s love was hidden in Our Lord’s words and actions, our words and actions should also represent Him.
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.” (JN 15: 16-17)
Everything will pass away and only love will remain. Our Lord commended us what is most important: “love one another.” Where there is love, everything becomes possible.
“I call you my friends, says the Lord, for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.” (JN 14: 10-11)
Like we are united with Our Lord so, He is united with His Father, “Who dwells in him doing his works.” We who are united with Our Lord, want to present His love to others. Our Lord, who is united with His Father, wants to present the Father’s love to us. “His works” are very simple—to love us and invite us to Heaven.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life, says the Lord; Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” (JN 15: 4-5)
Our Lord “remains in us.” He, Who is God and Who lives in Heaven, is—at the same moment—close to us and “remains in us” because He knows how important is His presence: “because without me you can do nothing.” Our mission is to “bear fruit”: “whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” When we are united with Him, we can change this world.
“Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord; whoever remains in me will bear much fruit.” (Gospel Acclamation)
