Word to the Wise
Thursday, May 21, 2009 - Thursday in the Sixth Week of Easter (Ascension moved to Sunday)
[Acts 18:1-8 and John 16:16-20]A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.
One of the most common forms of advertising involves the "before and after" pictures which promise what you will look like if you adopt a particular diet or use a particular fertilizer in your garden, etc. etc. Of course, in fine print at the bottom of the picture for about a nano-second there is the little proviso, "Your results may differ!" Jesus is referring to his own promise to the disciples that they will enjoy a much more intimate relationship to him once he has suffered, died and risen. Here the important word is "see!" This word is used in the Gospel of John to mean the sense of sight and the reality of faith. At the moment of the Last Supper when these words are said, the disciples "see" Jesus as a physical person whom they have followed. Soon they would "see" him in a completely different way. I am reminded of the words from AMAZING GRACE, "Was blind but now I see!" We who are "cradle" Catholics generally do not experience the "before and after" that someone who comes to believe later on experience. It may take something very difficult or different to bring us to understand the kind of "sight" that Jesus is describing. We can join the disciples in their confusion, however, and learn along with them. AMEN
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