Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

Choose either the video or audio below.

Gospel
John 16:20-23

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn,
while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived;
but when she has given birth to a child,
she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy
that a child has been born into the world.
So you also are now in anguish.
But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you.
On that day you will not question me about anything.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”

Reflection

Jesus is telling us his disciples, We need to have a response to the world in all of its horror and all of its pain, and its not to fall into the trap of being angry or doubting whether God is really in charge or having revenge.

No, it is simply a call for compassion and empathy. There's something value about feeling the pain that people are in and mourning it, which has something to do with accepting it as something that will bring about something new, a new birth. Growth. It's essential that we learn the power of weeping and mourning.

Closing Prayer 

Father, Sometimes we look at the world and we are frightened by its evil. And yet we know that there is a power in this world stronger than that evil and that, that evil will be conquered. Keep us in that hope and that trust that our role is not to fix the world, but to participate in your work of bringing it into the light. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

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