The gospel for Friday of the sixth week of Easter is taken from John 16:23. Jesus said to his disciples, amen. Amen. I say to you. You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will become joy.

When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived. But when she has given birth to child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice. And no one will take your joy away from you. On that day, you will not question me about anything.

Amen. Amen. I say to you, whatever you ask the Father, in my name he will give you. Jesus is again talking about the time when he will not be available to the disciples as they have grown accustomed to him being there. And there will be times of darkness. And I love the image of the woman giving birth to a child and being in deep pain.

And yet, once the pain is over and the child is born, we forget the pain. We have to understand that the darkness that comes and goes in our spiritual journey is essential. And when there is darkness, there is always somehow hidden within it. A new birth, a new understanding, a new awareness, a transformation. Please spend the next moments in reflection. And then I will close with a prayer.

Closing prayer. But the beauty of this image of new birth is a perfect way for us to imagine what we ask you for. We need you to be there for us when we are on this journey of transformation. It is not an easy journey. It doesn’t add one new idea to another new idea to another new idea. No, it is something to do with dying and rising, losing and finding from darkness to light.

Give us strength to accomplish this. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.