You cannot bear it now

Pr 8,22-31; Ps 8; Rom 5,1-5; Jn 16,12-15
16 JUNE

The Lord our God governs every man always moved by his grace and eternal wisdom, that guides his thoughts and interventions in history. The prophet Isaiah shows you the Lord all intent on consoling his people, announcing to it the liberation from the harsh Babylonian slavery. He presents him in the guise of a shepherd that leads his mother sheep slowly and bears the lambs on his chest. Our God is eternally patient and knows what the weight that every heart can bring is.

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice says, “Cry out!” I answer, “What shall I cry out?” “All mankind is grass, and all their glory like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. (So then, the people is the grass.) Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever.” Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by his strong arm; Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, Carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care (Is 40,1-11).

Saint Paul teaches the Corinthians that the Law of the Lord can be observed. God does not give a weight that nature cannot bring. By giving a weight, he also gives the grace and the strength to overcome every temptation. Nothing is superior to the strength of our nature.

Let us not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell within a single day. Let us not test Christ as some of them did, and suffered death by serpents. Do not grumble as some of them did, and suffered death by the destroyer. These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall. No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it (1Cor 10,8-13).

St. Paul always affirms of himself that he experienced a test superior to his strength in Asia. It means that it was exceedingly great. But it was overcome by grace.

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction that came to us in the province of Asia; we were utterly weighed down beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had accepted within ourselves the sentence of death, that we might trust not in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. He rescued us from such great danger of death, and he will continue to rescue us; in him we have put our hope (that) he will also rescue us again, as you help us with prayer, so that thanks may be given by many on our behalf for the gift granted us through the prayers of many (2Cor 1,8-11).

Jesus must give his disciples an obedience to his Word until death by the cross, until the total annihilation of their life. Now they are not able to carry its weight. Tomorrow the Holy Spirit will come and lead them to their Golgotha.

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, teach Christians the science of patience and wisdom.