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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter
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Gospel text (Jn 16:16-20): Jesus said to his disciples: “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me … Amen, amen, I say to you … your grief will become joy.”

The presence of God in the world

Fr. Antoni CAROL i Hostench (Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, —when watching the many disasters occurring in our world— many wonder: "Where is God?”. Jesus, in a mysterious way, affirms that we shall see Him again, and claims this will fill us with joy. Furthermore, He has unveiled God’s face for us: He is Father.

God does not let our world come loose from His hands. He does not make use of a “police-government” (as we usually do), but of a “providential one”. God is not an “arbiter”. Instead, as a providential Father, God "lets us do", but "He does not forsake us". That is, He respects the dynamics of our world (the laws of Nature and the choices of our liberty, including the wrong ones), but —in His infinite wisdom and goodness— He redirects everything towards the salvation of mankind. For instance: Caesar Augustus, Herod, Pontius Pilate, even when acting wrongly, were fully instrumental to the service of our redemption…

—Jesus, I would like to tell everyone: let us not invent any "gods"; let God be God, and let us entrust ourselves with joy to His “arms”, as a Father.