Zechariah 2:5-9, 14-15 / Luke 9:43-45
When we ask someone "How are you?", what answer are we expecting?
Or when others ask us that question, what kind of answer are we going to give?
Surely, we would expect, as well as give, polite but rather superficial answers like: I am ok. I am fine.
But beneath these polite and superficial answers is the reality of pain and suffering.
Even for Jesus, just when everyone was full of admiration for Him, He brought Himself and His disciples back to the reality of the cross that He must face.
Indeed, the reality of pain and suffering is seared into humanity, especially that of being a Christian.
But our consolation is not in a delayed gratification as in that it will be the reward in the after-life.
Rather, our consolation is what the prophet Zechariah proclaimed in the 1st reading - that the Lord dwells right in our midst, and hence is with us in our pain and suffering.
With the Lord is our help and salvation.
For the Lord is with us, to wipe away every tear from our eyes