SATURDAY 5TH WEEK
Corey Krengiel Sem. C ‘14

Future Joy

“The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock … I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.” Jeremiah 10: 13

Tomorrow begins the week of the Lord’s Passion. Tomorrow Jesus will enter into Jerusalem to be tortured and killed on the cross. And yet today we pray a Psalm that seems downright celebratory. This is because our eyes see more that a man about to suffer – we behold the God-man about to sacrifice himself in order to conquer the power of death forever!

“The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.” These words help us see that God is concerned for us; he does not stand by idly as we suffer, but jumps to action to safeguard his defenseless children. The image is meant to dismiss any thought that God is far away or simply some unperceiving ‘higher power’. He is more like the shepherd who spends all his time in the field watching over his flock and guarding his little sheep from the many dangers that might await them. Jesus not only saves us from danger, but does so by jumping right into it.

“I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.” Mourning first, then joy; sorrows, then consolation. This was the way for Jesus who had to die before he could rise, and it is the way for us – the Way of the Cross. We undergo trials daily, but when we endure them with the grace that flows from Christ’s sacrifice, we grow as men and as women. And looking at the big picture, this life is one long struggle that we must endure to the end. And in the end, it will be worth it! Jesus himself will “console and gladden” us as he welcomes us into his perfect joy – the supreme joy of Heaven.

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the good Shepherd who stopped at nothing to guard us from the death that awaited us. Give us the grace to endure peacefully the daily trials of life, so that when our journey is over
we might share with you the eternal joy of Heaven. Amen.

Ez 37: 21-28, Jer 31: 10-13, Jn 11: 45-56