Daily Gospel Reflection

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May 7, 2024

Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Jn 16:5-11
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Jesus said to his disciples:
“Now I am going to the one who sent me,
and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts.
But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go.
For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you.
But if I go, I will send him to you.
And when he comes he will convict the world
in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation:
sin, because they do not believe in me;
righteousness, because I am going to the Father
and you will no longer see me;
condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”

Reflection

Samantha Slaubaugh, Ph.D '22
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In this passage, Jesus talks to his followers before his death. We receive this passage in the liturgical calendar just days before the church celebrates Christ’s Ascension. The Ascension is a strange story.

What should we feel when Jesus bodily leaves us? In today’s gospel, Jesus’ friends feel sorrowful. Every time I open my eyes, ears, and heart to the suffering of the world, I feel sorrowful, too. Wouldn’t it all be redeemed if Christ were here with us in the body?

In my own sorrow for the suffering of the world—the children and families killed in war, the lives uprooted by climate disasters, the dehumanization experienced by the unhoused, to name only some of the evil and death we see around us—I imagine Jesus in this passage as a mother, talking to her child in the womb. Having birthed two children myself, I hear a gentle voice of hope in the face of lifelong risk and pain.

Christ says to his disciples and all of us: “I know it’s safe inside here. We are so close together, and you are comfortable. But to grow, to keep living, you must leave the womb. You are ready. You will breathe new air, and that breath will fill your lungs all of your days. We won’t be together like this anymore, but I will still be with you in a new way. Life in this world can be scary, but I will comfort and help you always.”

Perhaps God speaks to us in this passage like a mother preparing her children to grow, endure, and walk in the Spirit of God in every sorrow and every joy. The absence of Jesus in bodily form is a new kind of presence. When we were baptized, we were born from the womb of God. Today, we breathe in the Spirit of God, our Advocate.

Prayer

Rev. Herbert Yost, C.S.C.

Jesus, you tell us that the ruler of the world has no power over you. Oh, to have that freedom! We are too enslaved by appearances and the expectations of others. It wears down our spirits. Loving God our Father, doing God’s will, and knowing that we are beloved of you and the Father—ah—there is true peace. May we have more of your peace and less of the world’s in our lives. Amen.