“I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day. I’d rather a person should walk with me than merely tell me the way.” Edgar A. Guest (British-born American Poet) Any adherence to the faith that is not also an adherence to prayer and to service of others, is only talk.
Along the Easter journey this year, we have heard how, in His public ministry, Jesus was preparing His disciples for His Passion, His Resurrection, and (eventually) their opportunity to live in His Spirit after His Ascension.
He warned His first-followers that their discipleship would not mean that there would be no suffering. In fact, there would be suffering and trials and some of them would give their lives for their commitment to Jesus and the Kingdom. But, He also reassured them that joy would come to them. And He meant “joy” in the traditional sense that “everything will be alright, no matter what.” Suffering and joy are not incompatible.
Let us pray that we, too, who have the enduring presence of the Risen Jesus with us at all times, wherever we happen to be, experience – in spite of inevitable trials and disappointments – the same kind of joy. And may we walk with others, showing them the way to that very joy.
“Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound; let the plains be joyful and all that is in them. Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice before the Lord who comes, who comes to govern the earth, to govern the world with justice and the peoples with faithfulness.” Psalm 96
