NOTES for Joh 16:15-23

For us, what is happening at this very moment is often very important. We are concerned above all with our own feelings about what is happening. If we are hurting, the whole world around us looks dark and hostile. And if we feel good, our mood is peaceful, the sun is shining, and the whole world is smiling at us. Of course, things are not always so sharply defined, but most often our feelings tend toward one of the poles...

The Lord, however, is trying to teach us one wise practice: to remember that our condition changes, because nothing human is eternal. Only what is from God is eternal: "My righteousness will remain forever, and My salvation from generation to generation" (Isa. 51:8). Speaking today of a woman preparing to give birth, Christ emphasizes that we must not rely on what we feel now, not weep and lament because of sorrows, but remember not the sorrow, but the joy that will follow it (see John 16:20-22). We should think not by the feeling of the moment, but see more broadly and farther ahead. We should try to look at what is happening with God's gaze, seeking in everything meaning and a reason for joy and gratitude to God.