You will weep and wail, and the world will rejoice.

Jesus already spoke words of encouragement and consolation during meetings on earth: “Truly, truly, I say to you: You will weep and wail, and the world will rejoice.” You will mourn, but your sorrow will turn into joy” (John 16:20).

The sorrow of the disciples of Jesus over the departure of Jesus will turn into joy through the action of the Holy Spirit, who will let them know through faith that the physical absence of Jesus is replaced by his mysterious presence in the Sacrament of the Altar, in his word, and that means always and everywhere where it will be read and to explain his teaching, “…I will be among them” (Mt 18,20). The sorrow and abandonment of the apostles lasted only a short time. Once Jesus told them that they would not see him for a while. He meant his death. Then they will see him again, and he meant the time after his resurrection to his ascension. Such time data – for a while – can also be understood in relation to the new Church, when the Lord Jesus will be present in it under mysterious ways until his second coming to this world. The apostles did not dare to ask the Lord Jesus what “just a little while longer” means. For many people even today, this is an actual problem. They try to find out, calculate, and speculate about the second coming of the Lord Jesus to the world. After all, the Lord Jesus said that about this day when he will come, not even the angels know.  The issue of whether the Lord Jesus has left for good does not bother us, because we are convinced of the presence of the Lord Jesus among us by the teachings of the Church. Jesus is still present among us. It is enough if we correctly understand the participation in the Holy Mass. The process by which the apostles’ sorrow quickly turns into joy is compared by the Lord Jesus to a woman in labor. When the child is already born, the woman quickly forgets the pains she had to endure. A mother’s love far surpasses all pain. This is also the case with the apostles, who quickly forget their sorrow when they are convinced that Jesus lives and forms one community with them. They are no longer fearful, uncertain apostles, but after receiving the Holy Spirit, they become new people.

We, too, are gripped by sadness when we do not see the Lord Jesus, and it is even more difficult when we are affected by inner turmoil, uncertainty, and dryness, as well as prayers without any joy, Holy Communion without a sense of enrichment. So it is those moments of encounter with Jesus when we do not feel him, and he seems far away. We must have confidence and courage. At such a moment, it is good to have a spiritual leader close to you, preferably a confessor, and to be guided by him, or even we ourselves should realize that even if we do not feel the joy of the presence of the Lord Jesus, he is still here. This means that we do not have to worry after the departure of the Lord Jesus. He is always present among us, even if our eyes cannot see him. He is here. He wants us to remain faithful to him even in difficulties.