May 7: All Will Be Well / Todo Será Para Bien

Julian of Norwich, a holy woman and mystic of the 14^th-century, wrote: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

In John 15, 11, Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.” If we think about it, joy is a peculiar thing. Unlike happiness, a state which is generally tied to circumstances, joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We can be joyful, yet face all kinds of hardships. We can know joy when we have everything seemingly stacked against us. Joy is not conditional and so it remains, as a gift, even in times of great difficulty. And joy is forever reminding us that “all will be well.”

Jesus spoke the words recorded in John 15 while at the Last Supper, the night before He died. He instructed His disciples that He wanted their joy to be complete. As we know, the days following the Last Supper were harrowing for all of them, but Jesus’ words were meant to carry them through all of that and even their own personal suffering, which was yet to come. Are we willing to carry His joy in our hearts always, no matter what comes our way?

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Según Hechos 15, 7-21), en completa colegialidad, en el Concilio de Jerusalén, los Apóstoles decidieron que la Iglesia debía abrirse a todos sin distinción alguna. Se sirve a todos de la misma manera: por medio de Jesucristo, Dios ama a todos indistintamente. Esta decisión de la Iglesia debió ser un reto tremendo para los judíos, que consideraban a los paganos como impuros y extraños.

¡Qué magnífico y bello sería un mundo – incluso una Iglesia –  sin prejuicios ni discriminación, donde las personas sinceramente se aceptaran, se apreciaran, y se amaran unas a otras!  Que nosotros al menos nos contemos entre los que se esfuerzan denodadamente por lograrlo.