Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Someone you love is diagnosed with an inoperable brain
tumor. She will be dead most probably
within a year, perhaps a little more.
There is no long-term prognosis.
You begin the excruciating ordeal of saying, “Good-bye.” This is the situation of the disciples which the
Lord addresses in today’s gospel.
Jesus anticipates the pain his disciples will feel. He compares it to the labor a woman endures when she gives birth. Its sharpness will take their breath away. Its duration will stick in their memory like a knife in wood. But seeing Jesus in the resurrection will be like hearing the cries of new life. Immediately pain’s grip will be released, and exultation will overwhelm lingering discomfort. The disciples’ desires will then be purified so that their every wish may be granted. Understanding of all that has gone on, capacity to share their ecstasy with others, wisdom to never doubt again will be theirs.
We naturally do not want to suffer. But we accept pain and even embrace it at times as necessary to reach heightened awareness. Indeed, suffering may bring us a whole new kind of life. We should see the pain of death as taking us closer to the Lord. It should make us ever reliant on Him. In death’s completion, we will see His goodness face to face. This joy will far surpass any wonder of this world.
