Word to the Wise
Friday, June 3, 2011 - 6th Week of Easter - Fri
[Acts 18:9-18 and John 16:20-23,921]When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
The gospel passage today probably has its best impact on those who have given birth to a child! A close friend of mine recently described, on her website, her experience of giving birth to her daughter , and I found myself thinking of her as I considered today's passage! Jesus is addressing a group of men (as far as we know) but the gospel author is addressing all disciples! Jesus is preparing his disciples for his imminent death and resurrection! The gospel author is trying to prepare and assure disciples many years later! The comparison of giving birth to death and resurrection is challenging!
Today's liturgical feast features the African martyrs, Sts. Charles Lwanga and companions. One of the early church fathers once wrote, "The blood of martyrs is the seedbed of the church." When human life on this earth is seen as part and parcel of a "longer" life beyond this time conditioned "world," a new perspective is introduced. But we still have the anguish of death to experience. Whether death is experienced as part of martyrdom or peacefully in one's own home and bed, it is more than just the moment when biological life is no longer taking place. There are all kinds of surrounding circumstances that shape the experience and it is not ONLY the experience of the one dying. Relationships are dying as well. All of this is transformed by grief over death into (hopefully) joy over memory! In the case of Jesus' words to the disciples, there is the immediate impact of his death and resurrection appearances, followed by his departure and the coming of the Spirit. It must have been a roller-coaster time for those disciples. For disciples later on, which includes all of us, we are given a way to prepare for not just our physical death, but for many other "deaths and resurrections" that occur in life, such as the act of giving birth to a child, or surviving a terrible catastrophe, or simply the deaths of our parents and friends. Jesus' image of childbirth prepares not just the disciples "then," but all of us disciples "now." AMEN