LOSING THAT WE MAY GAIN

LOSING THAT WE MAY GAIN

(Tuesday, May 30)

But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” (Jn 16:5-7)

In today’s Gospel reading our Lord consoles the disciples about His “going away” so that “the Helper” comes to them, because the prospect of Christ’s departure filled their hearts with sorrow. It makes me think about other kinds of losses or “departures” of people or things in our lives, which fill our hearts with sorrow. It is normal that we grieve the loss or end of a friendship or some other kind of relationship, because we are not given to know the future or whom/what God will send us next. But if we nourish our faith, which takes some daily and hourly work, like saying from our hearts, Thy will be done, Thy kingdom come, and exercising our gratitude-muscles that tend to atrophy in deep sorrow, we can open our eyes and ears and hearts to the new here and now, in which God is as present and active as He ever was in our “old” lives. We might even come to accept the difficult “truth” that the Lord says to the disciples, that it is to their/our “advantage” that we experience this loss or departure, because a new Helper is coming. Let us be open to the present, and attentive to what God is sending us now, that we don’t miss out on the grace that is about to pour out abundantly upon us. “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen!