Today is May 30, Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter
We read at today’s Mass, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy” (Jn 16:20).
The Lord’s promise slices through the newsfeed mood swings of our age: there will be seasons when disciples carry tears while the crowd throws confetti. Jesus does not ask us to fake a grin; he asks us to anchor hope deeper than emotion.
When Scripture contrasts “the world rejoicing” with the Christian’s sorrow, it is not talking about fleeting feelings. Sadness and happiness belong to the passions; they rise and fall like the tide. Joy, in the biblical sense, is sturdier — born of a confidence that this passing world is not our final address.
Grief turned to gladness
Saint Joan of Arc, whose feast we celebrate today, understood the difference. “One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it,” she said. “To sacrifice what you are and to live without belief — that is a fate more terrible than dying.” True happiness is not the absence of pain but the presence of purpose. Joan’s purpose — Christ first, whatever the cost — carried her through the dungeon and pyre to unshakeable joy.
So where do my passions rule the day? Where do applause or disapproval dictate my peace? Ask the Spirit to train your heart’s compass on the everlasting hills, where grief is already turning into gladness.
Let us pray,
O God, who restore us to eternal life in the Resurrection of Christ, raise us up, we pray, to the author of our salvation, who is seated at your right hand, so that, when our Savior comes again in majesty, those you have given new birth in Baptism may be clothed with blessed immortality. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
