Your Sorrow will Turn into Joy

May 30, 2025 – Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/053025.cfm)

One day, I got a call from a hospital. They asked for an anointing of the sick for a dying man in his 90’s. Honestly, I do not like going to sick calls for the dying. I may carry emotional baggage when I leave the room. Aside from the scary machines and tubes applied to the patient, it is heart-breaking to see a dying person. They are holding on to their last remaining breaths. The sorrow of the family members would creep into my heart. The grief of those who gather around the suffering patient would enter my mind. Yet, I have to appear “okay” in order to do the rites properly. It’s the way of accompanying the dying and the family in prayer.

With this particular old man holding on to his last breathes, there was something different about him. Behind his transparent respirator, he was smiling as soon as I introduced myself to him. He was actually smiling during the whole rite while looking at me. He was fully conscious but cannot move. He was definitely in pain at that moment. He too must have been so loved by his family gathered around him. They were keeping to themselves, as much as possible their cries, as I did the rite and told him to go in peace.

After the rite, he removed gently his respirator to tell me something. He told me with a smile (saying in the local language), “Father, thank you. I will go now.” The family members could not hide anymore their tears as they too heard those words. It was heart-breaking that I have to keep myself from breaking down in tears to assure him of my presence.

Yet, I felt the confidence behind those words. This old man was confident that he was not alone. His loved ones were with him and the Lord was with him too. He was not afraid anymore despite the deep sorrow and pain at that very moment. He knew that after this, everything will turn into joy.

As I left the room and bid my goodbye, the parish office received a call fifteen minutes later. The call informed me that the old man died in peace.

This is a testimony that completely trusts in God’s presence and promise of joy. It describes a particular situation. It is a concrete human experience of struggle and confusion. There is fear and anxiety. There is also pain and sorrow. Moreover, such human experience paved the way for the Lord to intervene and bring comfort and confidence.

The readings today convey this message to us. In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul was mistreated by those who refused to believe in Jesus. He was harassed and was accused wrongly to put him in prison and to death. With this kind of situation, Paul must have been so confused and afraid for his life. He must have started to question the Lord for sending him into this kind of trouble in his ministry.

As a result, Paul’s difficult situation allowed Jesus to enter his life. Jesus assured him and gave him comfort and confidence. Jesus appeared in a vision. The Lord told Paul, “Do not be afraid, continue speaking and do not be silent. I am with you. No one will harm you.”

In the same way, Jesus also gave this assurance to his disciples. This conversation with Jesus happened just before the Lord was betrayed and arrested in Chapter 18 in this Gospel of John. Jesus prepared his disciples for the horrible and unimaginable events to happen in the coming days.  Thus, the words of Jesus, “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy,” are the Lord’s assurance to us.

We might be struggling at this very moment. There might be some of us who experienced being humiliated, harassed, oppressed or abused. Or perhaps who are ill at the moment, or in trouble at work, lost a job or failed in business. There might be some of us too who are now having problems in relationships or in great sorrow for losing a loved one.

With these difficult and painful human experiences, God also comes to us through this sacrament, through the scriptures, through the love and support of our family and friends and through the gift of the Holy Spirit abiding in us. God intervenes to bring comfort and confidence in us.

Moreover, this calls us today to truly believe that God is the God of our life. Then, in that faith, we shall see the many good things we enjoy in this life. This is true despite the many difficulties and hardships we encounter. When we truly believe that God is the resurrection and the life, we begin to become true Christians. We see light in the midst of darkness. We find joy in the midst of sorrow. We capture a smile in the midst of pain. We embrace hope in the midst of impossibility. We find healing in the midst of so much sickness. Lastly, we find life in death. Hinaut pa.