The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
I read that passage on the back of a prayer card at a funeral for a friend's mother.
This was my first 'large' in-person gathering since the pandemic began in 2020, and wearing a mask in the summer heat of Texas, I tried not to cry. Meditation and focused breathing didn’t help.
My friend’s family is Filipino, just like my own. When I blinked, I would sometimes see the church pews fill up with women and men who looked like my aunts, uncles, cousins and –after looking at one of the women– even my sister.
Maybe that’s what triggered my emotions. A waterfall of tears drenched my mask. How do we cry with masks on our faces? “I’m not supposed to touch my face,” I kept thinking. “Will God wipe away these tears?”
Perhaps you’ve dealt with death and loss in this pandemic. Did one of the 6.23 million COVID-19 deaths wreck your family as it did mine? I think all my relatives had the same question: Will God wipe away our tears?
Even in these Easter days, we're still suffering in many ways. Families suffered miscarriages. Jobs and wages were lost. A country was drawn into the toils of war. Sometimes the tension and trauma we carry from our past, coupled with this pandemic and the weight of daily life, might seem like all too much.
But God the Father and Jesus both know our struggles. In today’s Gospel Jesus tells the Jews, who questioned Him as much as we do (“If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly,” the Jews said to Jesus), “My sheep hear my voice: I know them, and they follow me.”
At one point in our life, someone told us about the Joy and Truth of who Christ is. Maybe it was our parents, a teacher, a youth minister, a sister, or a priest. It may have even been in passing, in word or action, but it was enough to turn our hearts towards Him and be “filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.”
If your faith feels weary, sinking despite the buoyancy of Easter or even just getting by, never forget that “The Lord is good: His kindness endures forever, and His faithfulness, to all generations.” Our families before us carried the same tension in their hearts that we do.
May we never forget the Paschal Mystery of the Lamb who will lead us to “springs of life-giving water” and that “God will wipe away every tear.” Even the ones we can’t see.
James Ramos is a Texas-based photo-journalist and designer. He loves a good soup, roller coasters, swimming and anything by Father Henri Nouwen. Say hi on Instagram and find more of his photography and writing.