“Your Grief Will Become Joy” by Beth DeCristofaro

“Your Grief Will Become Joy” by Beth DeCristofaro

Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

So, he left there and went to a house belonging to a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God; his house was next to a synagogue. Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the Lord along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard believed and were baptized. (Acts 18:7-8)

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, "Are you discussing with one another what I said, 'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'? Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy." (John 16:19-20)

Piety

May the hope of your presence always uphold me despite life’s incompleteness, imperfections, and disappointments.  My grief becomes joy through your loving will, O Jesus.

Study

Recently our young nephew, his wife, and two small children visited us.  Those little ones were delightfully rowdy, full of energy, curiosity, and delight.  In preparation for their departure, I was gleefully instructed by 3-year old how to buckle her into her car seat.  She then patted the sliver of car cushion between her and her brother explaining that I should sit here.  When I answered that I was not going home with them, dark clouds suddenly filled her previously grinning face.  “I want you to come!” she cried, patting the seat.  Next to her, I noticed her 5-year old brother suddenly blinking back tears.  The despair of separation!  This unguarded, heartfelt emotion touched me deeply.  Our promise to see them again soothed them eventually. But “I’ll see you again" is too amorphous, so ambiguous. Jesus’ followers must have felt some of the same as these two loving children.

Paul had a rocky start in Corinth.  He was rejected by the Jews.  Immediately following this passage in Acts, Paul has a dream in which Jesus assures him that he will not be harmed.  Paul, therefore, settles in Corinth accomplishing years of preaching and spreading the Word.  Imagine the joy he felt.  He had never heard his Lord utter those confusing words: “A little while and you will not see me” but his faith and conviction allowed him personally to experience “you will see me”.  This new experience of God’s indwelling joy is what Jesus bequeathed to his followers.  It is much more real and deep, rooted in our hearts and souls, than the “I’ll see you soon” with which we reassure our own loved ones.

The Holy Spirit is the medium by which this joy quickens and sharpens our awareness that Jesus is indeed seeing us soon – every day, every breath.  What holy joy!  It is cause to fall on our face in gratitude but he wants us instead to interact with our sisters and brothers, look for his face in theirs and build that community in Corinth, Fairfax, or wherever we are.  And he wants our communities also to love each other whether a traditional novena society or a Dorothy Day homeless shelter or a campus gathering or altar guild.  Wherever two or three are gathered Jesus is present.  What joy!  He is seeing us now and also in a little while.

Action

I so look forward to hugging those two little rug rats again!  In the meantime, reach out to someone who you have not been in contact with recently.  Offer Jesus’ presence by being particularly present to them in whatever they need or want.  Put them in your prayer list.  Be open to being filled with the Holy Spirit in whatever form that happens.