Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter
“Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.”
This single line from today’s Gospel might simultaneously be one of the most uplifting as well as one of the most heart-rending. Jesus is speaking to the Apostles at the Last Supper knowing that within hours He will be abandoned by nearly all of his friends, companions, and followers and endure ridicule, rejection, torture, and death. Of all the torments Christ endured in the course of the Passion, the deep wound of betrayal and abandonment was almost certainly not least.
And yet, in the midst of the anguish that this betrayal surely caused Him, the Lord clearly states, “But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” It should be deeply consoling to remember that the same goes for each of us in every moment of every day. Even in the depths of whatever bitter darkness, difficulty, struggles, or pain we face in the course of daily life, we are never truly alone. God is constantly with us and sustaining us, even in those moments that feel most desperate.