Mtr Mary Trainor

“But take courage. I have conquered the world.”

On this Saturday of Easter week, while we are yet bathed in the light of Resurrection, with the Risen Christ still among us, this call to courage might feel misplaced. Maybe even a bit dampening

With God walking among us, so to speak, why today’s Daily Office reading (John 16:16-33) and its call for courage?

The conversation we “overhear” between Jesus and his disciples does in fact occur prior to the events in Jerusalem. As a forecast to those coming days, it makes sense. Courage would clearly be needed after the trial. After the death. The failure.

But wait. It wasn’t failure after all. Jesus threw off the death clothes, rolled away the stone sealing that tomb, walked out into the fresh air of morning.

Courage? Who needs courage after a day like that?

And yet, those who choose what we read from scripture each day chose this passage for this day. I find its call to courage a helpful reminder, even as the Easter light still shines.

The daily grind of living is still present, too, and in almost every moment the temptations and assaults of this world hover near. If I do not “take courage,” they can eclipse the Easter glow. Two things can happen: I move forward in darkness, terrified of falling. Or I freeze up, paralyzed by the danger.

Harry Emerson Fosdick is remembered well for many things, not the least of which is as founding minister of New York City’s Riverside Church. He earned high praise from Martin Luther King Jr. as the greatest preacher of the 20th century. If I knew nothing else about him, he earns my high praise for the lyrics to a favorite from The Hymnal 1982 (594 or 595.) While preparing this reflection, I soon realized I was softly repeating its second verse:

Lo! the hosts of evil round us
scorn thy Christ, assail his ways!
From the fears that long have bound us
free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage
for the living of these days,
for the living of these days.

For the living of these days.
Jesus said, “But take courage. I have conquered the world.”

Mtr. Mary