I am with you always

I am with you always

By REV. FR. SAMUEL FREDERICK

Acts 18:9-18, Jn 16:20-23. The concern of Jesus for His disciples is particularly touching in today’s Gospel. He knows He is about to face His passion and death and that He will no longer be around. Quite incredibly, He is not worried about Himself but about His friends. He is at pains to console and comfort them. He wants them to know that His going away is paradoxically a good news, because He will meet them again. In an ‘admirable exchange’, for Jesus to go back to the Father opens the way for the Spirit, the Advocate, to come to the disciples. 

To balance this, we have the assurance that Jesus is always with us, as we face the questions that life raises for us. In today's first reading, when Paul was uncertain how to share the Gospel message in Corinth, Jesus appeared to him and promised: “I am with you.” Even with this promise Paul had serious issues to face. He was accused before the proconsul as a trouble-maker and the angry protestors even turned against their own leader, Sosthenes, who had supported Paul and beat him up. Paul began his pilgrimage to Jerusalem by taking a Nazirite vow (Cf. Num. 6:1-21). He shaved his head and would not cut his hair again until the vow is completed. He would follow strict dietary laws and keep himself ceremonially pure. To win the goodwill of the disciples in Jerusalem he returned more fully to Jewish practice and immersed himself in traditional Jewish customs, before leaving Cenchreae, the seaport of Corinth and sailing for the Holy Land. He thought long and hard about how to shape his own conduct. His process of discernment shows him adapting to circumstances, sensitive to people’s feelings, adapting to their needs. Just as He guided Paul, the ever-present Holy Spirit helps us to deal with each issue as it arises.

May the Lord share in our pain in this time of pandemic and heal our world! Amen!! Remain safe and have a pleasant day!!!

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