And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you.
All Commentaries on John 16:22 Go To John 16
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice, &c. This is the application of the parable, points out its scope and profitable teaching. He compares the two cases, of a woman in child-birth and the Apostles, both in the present suffering and the subsequent joys. Your joy will remain for ever. For I shall rise glorious and immortal, I shall die no more. I shall be present to aid you in all your persecutions and afflictions; I will make you superior to all adversities, and at last crown you with a glorious martyrdom, and raise you to heavenly and eternal joys which no one will take from you. Christ then speaks first of the joy of the Apostles at His own Resurrection, and secondarily of their own resurrection and happiness, which is brought forth by the labour and pain of this life, as a child by the pain of child-birth. S. Cyprian (ad Demetrium) [chap. xi.] excellently says, "A man whose whole glory and happiness is in the world, suffers punishment by worldly misfortunes. He weeps and groans if evil befall him in this world, who cannot fare well when life is past. Whose pleasure is all enjoyed in this life, whose consolations all end here, whose frail and brief life counts upon having some sweetness and pleasure here. But when they go hence, pain and sorrow alone await them. But they whose hopes rest on future blessings, feel no pain at the assaults of present ills. In a word, we are not astounded, or crushed, or grieved by adversities. We murmur not at any disaster, or bodily weakness; living in the Spirit more than in the flesh, we triumph over the weakness of our body by the strength of our mind." And just below: "There flourishes among us the strength of hope, and the stedfastness of faith, and even among the ruins of a falling world our mind is erect, our resolution unmoved, our patience is ever full of joy, and our soul ever rests secure on its God."
Ye have sorrow. Ye are sorrowful on account of My departure and by death, and after My death ye will be sorrowful on account of your impending persecutions and crosses. "And so also will other believers be full of sorrow, who through tears and sufferings are striving after eternal joys," says Alcuin. Moreover, as S. Augustine observes on these sufferings, "we are not sorrowful without joy, but as the Apostle says ( Romans 12:12) "rejoicing in hope," for the travailing woman to whom we are compared, is gladdened more at the child who is about to be born, than saddened by her present pangs."
Tropologically. The mind of a penitent sinner, and also the mind of a righteous Prayer of Manasseh , when thinking on martyrdom, entrance into "religion," or any other difficult and heroic work, is like a woman in her pangs, because he strives with great pain and labour to bring His conversion, martyrdom, or entrance into religion, to the birth. Read S. Augustine (Conf. viii8), where he records with what great effort he brought to the birth his purpose of a new life. As Isaiah says (chap. xxvi17.) But yet this travailing causes great joy. But the ungodly in like manner bring their evil deeds to the birth with great labour and pain, which turns into the torments of hell at last. See Isaiah 59:4; Psalm 7:14; Wisd5:7 , and elsewhere.
Again, a preacher, a confessor, or any one else who strives to win souls to God, does it with great travail. Whence S. Gregory (Moral. xxx9) compares such an one to a labouring hind, which with great difficulty brings forth her young, and bellows through pain. Explaining Job xxxix1. Few persons think what labour is displayed in the preaching of the Fathers. With what pangs, with what efforts in faith and conversation, do they bring forth souls. How do they look round with careful observation, so as to be bold in their directions, compassionate in infirmities, gentle in their exhortations, humble in displaying authority, resolute in contempt of earthly things, unbending in enduring hardships, and yet weak in not ascribing their strength to themselves. How pained for those that fall, how anxious for those that still stand, with what fervour they strive to attain to more, with what fear to keep fast what they have already attained to.
And your joy no man will take from you. "Because Christ, who dieth no more, is their joy" (Gloss Inter.) And that will be more true in heaven. Hence S. Augustine (in loc.), "Nor will any end suffice, save that of which there is no end."
