Embrace the Change

Over the last two months, we have watched as our world has been turned upside down. The coronavirus pandemic, and the measures taken to mitigate it, have deeply affected the lives of every person. There have been a few positives: for example, more people are staying in touch with distant relatives and the elderly, and also reaching out to help those who are poor and in need. But the overwhelming experience of most of us has been great difficulty: isolation, economic hardship, a change in the most fundamental routines of daily life.

What we have experienced, you might say, is grief – that is, the sorrow that comes with loss. Now, many folks are trying to return to something like a normal, but it’s a different normal than before, and we still face a lot of uncertainty about what we face in the months ahead. And even if some sense of normalcy returns, many things will be changed: some jobs won’t come back, some things won’t go back to the way they were before, and some of our loved ones will no longer be with us. It’s natural to feel aggrieved at all of that.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus directly addresses the grief of the apostles. They are mourning the fact that he has told them he will be going away – first to his death, just a few hours away from this scene, and then after his resurrection, he will leave them again, ascending to his Father’s side, from whence he came. All that the apostles had come to believe, all that they had known – it was about to change.

What does Jesus say? “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” That seems like an impossible thing, right? How can we not be troubled by having everything we knew and relied upon totally turned upside down? The next verse gives us the answer: “You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” Faith in the Lord makes us ready for change. The apostles may not have felt ready for the change that was coming, but ultimately it was for their good. As Jesus says, he’s going ahead of them to prepare a place for them in heaven. He has shown them the way to the Father – he himself is the Way – and now he leaves so that he can allow them to journey on that way. Without the change, they would have been satisfied to stay where they were. But he knows what is best – for them to go out, to proclaim the Good News, to fulfill the purpose God has given them.

Last Supper (1903) by Ilya Repin

Perhaps something similar will be true of us in this moment. We still don’t know how God is going to bring forth some good from all of this change; but as people of faith, we believe that he will. Maybe it will mean a smaller Church, but a holier one, one that is more faithful, one more willing to proclaim the Good News in our daily lives. Maybe it will mean a change of priorities so that we truly remember what is most important: claiming our dwelling place in the house of the Father. Maybe it will mean an increased love for the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, knowing that those things can be taken away from us. In some way, whether at an individual level or more broadly, God always brings forth good from evil. But accepting change by our own power is impossible. We need faith to trust in God’s will and not our own.

Friends, next weekend, we’ll have the chance to return to Mass in person, to receive the Eucharist again, and to receive the spiritual strength we need to embrace this moment of change. It hasn’t ended; it may only just be beginning. But like the apostles, the Lord will lead us on his Way – he will help us to embrace the change that he desires. Let’s renew our trust in him, our faith, so that where he is, one day we also may be.