A little while and you will no longer see Me

Anticipating His death, Jesus forewarns His disciples of a time of seeming absence. But this is just temporary, since He promises to return, bringing peace and joy. The period of His absence, between His resurrection and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, will be short. The risen Jesus appears to His disciples, assuring them of His continued presence, on the road to Emmaus, at the Cenacle, along the Lake of Galilee, until His ascension to heaven.

In His resurrected form, Jesus is no longer bound by time and space; He can be present at all times. But for our sake, the period of loneliness and sorrow will serve as the hopeful anticipation of what is in store for all believers: The resurrection of both body and soul—this is the real source of joy.

At Mass, all believers proclaim the mystery of faith: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”

Gospel • JOHN 16:16-20

Jesus said to His disciples: “A little while and you will no longer see Me, and again a little while later and you will see Me.”

So some of His disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that He is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see Me, and again a little while and you will see Me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ of which He speaks? We do not know what He means.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see Me, and again a little while and you will see Me’? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

SOURCE: “366 Days with the Lord 2020,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls. ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.