Acts 18:9-18 / John 16:20-23
We may want to think about that last sentence of the gospel passage that we have just heard when Jesus said: When that day comes, you will not ask me any questions.
Yes, we will always have our questions about life, about our faith, about God and about eternity.
And of course we want answers. Yet we only want the answers we want to hear.
For example, when we are having it difficult or when we are suffering, we only want others to sympathize with us and to hear our complains as we wallow in self-pity.
We feel that everybody is against us and everything is so bleak, and hence the only thing we want to hear is that everybody is wrong and that we are right.
Yes, that is the answer we want to hear when we are having it rough.
But as we heard in the 1st reading, St. Paul had it rough and tough.
He could have just called it quits and not even bothered to listen to the Lord.
But he listened to the Lord and had faith in the Lord and believed that the Lord was with him.
Indeed the Lord was with him and protected him from harm.
The Lord will also protect us from harm and we will even be able to rise from our troubles and difficulties and find joy in life.
When we listen to the Lord's answer, then indeed we will have no more questions.