Friday
of the 6th Week of Easter
May 15, 2015 8:30am
We have all experienced “Good
Fridays” in our lives.
Here I do not mean the day after
Holy Thursday.
I mean that we have all
experienced sufferings and dyings.
Jesus doesn’t sugar coat that
reality for us.
He doesn’t say that he will spare
us from these “Good Fridays.”
In fact, maybe the clearest
teaching in the entire gospel story is that every experience of Easter in our
lives requires a Good Friday.
In today’s gospel, Jesus notes
that the birth of a child requires the pain of childbirth.
Or, the diploma received at
graduation requires years of study.
Success in business requires
steady, creative, and risk-taking work.
The celebration of a marriage
anniversary requires the giving of self day by day and year by year.
The idea is that every experience
of joy and fulfillment requires some kind of challenge and the
giving-of-oneself.
Today, in some of his final words
to his disciples, Jesus reminds us that when we live life with him, God can
transform our grief into joy, our hard work into fulfillment, our commitment
into satisfaction.
He says it very simply: “Your grief will become joy.”
Jesus calls us to embrace an
attitude of resurrection.
