Today, there is a beautiful story in the Gospel where Jesus anticipates this kind of closeness. Jesus Christ goes up "on the mountain" to pray; the disciples are alone in the boat and threatened by the power of the weaves and the storm. The Lord seems to be far away. But, because He is with the Father, He sees them. And because He sees them, He comes to them across the water; He gets into the boat with them and makes it possible for them to continue to their destination.

This is an image for the time of the Church. The Lord is in the "mountain" of the Father: we can always call on Him; we can always be certain that He sees and hear us. In our own day, too, the boat of the Church travels against the headwind of history, through the turbulent ocean of time. Often, it looks as if it is bound to sink. But the Lord is always there and He comes at the right moment.

—O Jesus, you tell us "I go away and I will come to you": that is the reason for our joy.