HOLY WEEK MEDITATION

BUT TAKE COURAGE (Tuesday, April 26) “The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation (θλῖψιν ἔχετε). But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (Jn 16: 32-33) How very gentle, forgiving, and humble are these words of our Lord. He is about to be abandoned by us, by His very own, and delivered into the hands of His enemies. And yet He consoles us, so that, even in our weakness and failure in His final hours, in Him we “may have peace.” He is about to face Judas’s kiss, mockery, torture, and crucifixion, and yet He says to us: “But take courage; I have conquered the world.” So as Christ heads toward the Cross, He reminds me that in the world I have “tribulation.” And a large part of this is my own falling short of His Self-giving, crucified love, when I am “scattered” and “leave” Him, time and again. But Jesus Christ conquers; He conquers all this, also in me. “I have said this to you,” He reminds me today, “so that in me you may have peace.” Glory be to Him. Coffee With Sister Vassa