Acts 16:22-34
Psalm 138:1-3,7-8
John 16:5-11
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Departures can be very sad affairs. Many of us have actually experienced the pain of departure of loved ones. Many are the tears that are shed at terminals, parks, airports during departures. The most difficult of all departures is the death of a loved one and that particular experience of departure brings its own very particular form of sadness. We have differently experienced sadness, sorrow when someone who has been significant for us, someone we have loved and valued, is taken from us in death. We need to grieve the loss of our loved ones. We see this at every funeral. It is always so hard to say goodbye. As the famous singer, Celine Dion puts it:
🎼Goodbye is the saddest word🎼 I remember an incident where, at one international airport, a son who was travelling abroad for studies nearly missed his flight because his parents, particularly his mother, with eyes full of tears, did not want to let him go for fear of missing him. In the gospel reading this morning Jesus acknowledges the sadness of his disciples because of his imminent departure. ‘You are sad at heart’, Jesus said to them. They are sad because Jesus had been saying, ‘I am going to the one who sent me’. On the evening before Jesus was crucified, the disciples were aware that Jesus was taking his leave of them and sadness filled their hearts. Yet, Jesus wants his disciples to see that his departure is not the tragedy that it appears to be; it contains within it the seeds of new life. It is only his departure that makes it possible for him to send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to his disciples, and it is in and through the Spirit that Jesus can be present to them in a new and special way. To that extent, as Jesus says to them, ‘it is for your own good that I am going,’ and 'unless i go, the Paraclete will not come.' In our own day to day experience the pain of letting go can be the birth pangs of a new, better and fuller life. As we face our own necessary losses, as we willingly let go of some things that we hold so dear, we will experience the Lord’s coming in various new ways.
In the setting of the last supper where Jesus addresses the sadness of his disciples. On this evening, full of foreboding, the apostles sense that Jesus is referring to his imminent death. But he wants to show them that his leaving them is a way of serving them, because it is only in leaving them that he can become present to them in a new way through the Holy Spirit. He has to leave them if the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, is to come to them, and when the Holy Spirit comes they will experience Jesus’ presence in a new and more wonderful way. To receive the Holy Spirit, they have to let Jesus go, so that they can receive him again in a way that allows him to work through them more powerfully than he has ever done. There is sorrow at his leaving them, but their sorrow will surely give way to joy. It is often the way in life that we have to go through a painful experience to come out into a greater and fuller life. Growing in the Lord, growing in the Spirit, will often involve the pain of shedding and letting go. As Jesus said earlier in the gospel of John, the seed has to fall to the ground and die if it is to bear much fruit. The Lord is always with us in the dying that leads to new life, just as he was with his disciples in their sorrow at his leaving them. He journeys with us through the valley of darkness until he leads us to those restful waters for which we long.
Jesus wants to bring some light into the sadness, the darkness of spirit, of his disciples. He does so by assuring them that, in going from them, he will be able to do something for them that he would not otherwise be able to do remaining with them. In returning to the Father, he will be able to send them the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. In and through this Spirit, Jesus will be present to his disciples in a new and very intimate way, and he will be present in this manner not just to his disciples gathered with him that evening but to all future disciples, including all of us. Jesus’ death and his resurrection from the dead leads to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us all, and, in and through the Spirit, Jesus is within us and among us. That same Spirit is with us in all our dark, difficult and sorrowful times, in all our times of painful loss. The Spirit assures us of the Lord’s loving presence at such moments, so that even in our sadness we can experience something of that joy which is the fruit of the Spirit.
In every situation, sadness or joy, we need to always trust in God and sing praises to him. The first reading tells us what happened to Paul and Silas while witnessing to the gospel at Philippi. They had to go through many sufferings, hostilities and persecutions. They were beaten severely and thrown into the innermost part of the maximum prison. Here is the point that is so interesting: rather than being sad at their situation, they gave praise and thanks to God. God miraculously released them through an earthquake which left the doors opened. The jailer saw this as an act of God and immediately asked what he had to do to gain salvation. He and his household got converted and were baptised. This, indeed, was consoling to Paul and Silas. They were not only physically saved and released from prison, but souls were saved through them. God can also use u to save many souls. Are you ready?
-PadreCharlesLwanga
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