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The gospel discusses three aspects of the Lord. The first is His loneliness. The Lord was lonely because He was suffering. Suffering is hard to face because one often suffers alone. We often suffer secretly because our joys and pains are too great to be shared.
Who among us has not experienced the pain of feeling happy because the one whom you would have enjoyed talking to about the goodness of God is not there? Who among us has not experienced the pain of having to suffer without anyone around to tap us on the shoulder to tell us to carry us on? That is the pain of being alone and Jesus was not alien to it.
But Jesus Himself assures us, “I am never alone. The Father is always with me.” That is why we, too, never suffer alone because the Father is always with us.
The second point is the forgiveness of God. He predicted that His friends would desert Him. But He said He would still give His peace despite it. Is that not forgiveness? Jesus accepted the faults of His disciples.
Our defect is that we often expect our friends to be perfect. But there are no faultless friends, brothers or sisters. There is no perfect husband or wife. If you look for one, you will be disappointed because there isn’t any.
We must accept our friends and relatives together with their faults and weaknesses. This is the secret to forgiveness and happiness in friendship and family life.
The third point is courage, which is God’s gift to us. In our sufferings, we may be tempted to give up or rest. The Lord tells us, “Take courage, I have overcome the world. Carry on.
The Lord offers us three gifts. The first is to discover that in our loneliness, God is always with us. Second is that in the faults of our friends, we are being invited to forgive. Third, in our discouragement, the Lord offers us courage.
INEVITABLE SUFFERING
Jn 12:27
Jesus In My Heart
