‘Do not lose heart’ is what Jesus always said to his disciples. When He foretold his disciples about his persecution and death, they were scared, disappointed, and frustrated all at once. He saw them lose heart. He wanted to encourage and strengthen them. 

In John 14:27, Jesus says to them “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not let them be afraid”. The Lord was telling them not to lose heart.

We human beings tend to have a problem. We start everything with great excitement, high spirit and enthusiasm. But within no time we get tired and disappointed. Even when we are playing a game, we start it with enthusiasm and excitement. But when we feel that we are losing the game, we get disappointed very fast. We feel very tired, lose interest and we don’t feel like completing the game.

Once, Fr. Joseph was playing chess with one of his cousins. When his cousin came to know that he was going to lose, suddenly he put everything upside down. Later it was easy for him to say that he could have defeated Fr., because the board fell down, he couldn’t win. 

This kind of tendency exists as people get disappointed very fast. It is evident even in the ministry. People work hard every day preaching day and night. But even after preaching so much and putting in hard work, if, nothing changes and there is no visible effect or improvement, the preacher gets disappointed and loses heart. 

Fr. Joseph remembers a youth retreat. After preaching the first day, nothing happened; there was no change. They thought slowly there will be a change. But the next day the youth were getting disturbed and restless. They were getting violent and disobedient. The preaching was not affecting them. 

Fr. Joseph and the others started wondering what was happening and started losing heart. They were disappointed with the behaviour of the youth. So, they thought of increasing their intercession. They went to the Chapel, knelt down and prayed for hours lifting their hands. After that everything changed and the whole retreat went smoothly. 

Losing of heart also happens in family life. When someone is getting married, they have big dreams about each other. They dream about their life with each other, their vacations and how well each one will be treating the other. They start their married life with great excitement and hope. But soon enough they realise that married life is indeed difficult. They get disappointed with each other and lose heart. This is common everywhere, especially in one’s spiritual life.

There are some people who go for daily mass and pray for hours every day. Yet if they fall sick or have some misfortune, they feel all their prayers and all the masses are wasted. They lose heart.

When the disciples were with Jesus, they saw him perform so many miracles. For e.g. raising Lazarus from death, rebuking and calming the sea, turning water into wine, multiplying the five loaves for five thousand people, healing the blind, healing lepers, etc. They were all excited with all these miracles. But suddenly Jesus started talking about his passion, persecution and death. His disciples started getting disappointed and losing heart. Jesus knew that his disciples were losing heart, so he told them not to lose heart and be disturbed. Jesus wanted to tell them that they were disturbed because they felt they were defeated. 

They felt they were falling down and someone else would be glorified, exalted and victorious. So, in John 14:27 Jesus says “do not be frightened, do not be disturbed and do not be troubled”. 

In Genesis 12:1-2 we read – Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing”. Genesis 12:5 – Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. 

Genesis 12:10 – “Now there was a famine in the land. So, Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land”

When God told Abram to leave his country and go to another country with all his family, property and servants, he did as God told him. But when he reached the place which God had sent him to, there was severe famine in that land. These things happen in everyone’s life. We start something with excitement and then get disappointed when things don’t turn according to our plans.

For e.g. in your spiritual life, you start your ministry with great expectations and excitement. If something goes wrong you question everything. You wonder if you were appointed for all these things. Is this for what you were called for and supposed to experience? But we should understand that we need to go through these experiences that we face in our life. There is a purpose for every experience. 

Acts 17:26 – From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live.

According to the passage, God created one ancestor and from him all people to inhabit the whole earth. He also assigned the time and place for everyone’s existence; which group should live for what period and where. 

For e.g. dinosaurs, some tribes or some kind of groups lived for certain number of years and then they disappeared from this world. God has allotted the time and boundaries for everyone. But there is a reason for that.

Acts 17:27 – So that, they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him; though indeed he is not far from each one of us.

According to this passage God sends problems, crisis, pain, sickness and natural calamities, so that people may look for him, search for him and find him. 

During the pandemic, people started looking for God. The only difference being that they were searching for Him on Google instead of churches. They started searching God to grope for Him and find Him; for healing or to solve their problems. In fact, God is not far from us, he is very close to us. He says do not lose heart when you are faced with difficulties.

Hebrew 10:35-36 – Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

According to the passage, God says do not abandon that confidence you have when you start something. We shouldn’t lose heart. We shouldn’t give up. Endurance is important. With endurance we receive great rewards. 

Like, when we start a ministry, initially we have only a few people attending it. But if we continue with faith and confidence, we succeed. Continued faith and trust in the Lord bring great rewards. You will reap the harvest. When we do the will of God, we receive what was promised by God. 

God knew Abram is going to face famine in that land. But God wanted him to go through it. In anybody’s life – whether it is family life, spiritual life or priestly life everyone experiences problems in their life. Without going through the hardships, we cannot enter the Promised Land or receive what God has promised.

Hebrews 12:1-2 – Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God

Life is a race and we have to run our race with perseverance – may be 100 meters, maybe 200 meters or maybe one mile. God has set a goal for us; we have to run this race whether we like it or not. 

If we get disappointed then we should look at the great cloud of witnesses, the huge number of witnesses we have in heaven – the holy saints and angels and all the holy people who lived before us. Such as, St. Dominic Savio, St. Don Bosco, St. Padre Pio, St. Francis D’Assisi, St. Francis Xavier, etc. 

If we get disappointed in the moments of persecution, humiliation, insults, disappointments, we have so many people to look at and learn from, and then continue our race with perseverance.

According to Hebrews 12:2, if we are not convinced with the witnesses of our saints and holy people, then we should look at Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of our joy endured the cross.

Therefore, the cross was not a burden for Jesus. The cross was nothing for Him because He saw the joy that was waiting for Him. Therefore, He endured the cross disregarding its shame. Now He is sitting at the right hand of the throne of God.

When we experience difficulties, humiliations, etc, and feel like giving up, don’t do it. Persevere, endure and look at Jesus. Look at the joy that is waiting for you. Get encouraged and move on.

Hebrews 12:3-4 – Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from the sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

If, Jesus who never committed any sin against anybody was not spared, we too will not be spared. Jesus was betrayed by his beloved disciple; another denied him and others left him. But for us there will be somebody with us – Jesus. Our family members, our friends or our community might go against us. They might betray us. We shouldn’t lose heart. We should not grow weary.

In our struggle we should know that we have not resisted to the point of shedding our blood. People say that they are tired of their struggles. But we may have shed sweat in our struggles, not blood like Jesus.

At times the crisis and problems we face may be because of our own doing and not someone else’s. We should take these challenges and sufferings as our penance. God uses these sufferings and struggles for something good.

Sometimes, even when you do good, there will be struggles and persecutions. Remember, it will result in something good. Like, if you are into ministry, these persecutions and suffering which you are going through, will be used for the glory of your ministry.

Fr. Joseph too has faced many good and bad experiences in his ministry in UK and in other retreat centres. But God made him realise that all the negative experiences, the pain and the sufferings which he has gone through have turned into a blessing for his ministries. More than his personal gain, it has helped him in his ministries.

Philippians 1:12 – I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel.

St. Paul says in the passage that whatever happened to him – whatever crisis, pains, rejection and persecution that he went through, actually helped him to spread the gospel. Initially when Jesus died, all the disciples were frightened and they were hiding in one closed room. They were afraid to come out. Then God permitted persecutions. Enemies started beating them up and then they ran to the four corners of the world. Wherever they went they started preaching. That is how Christianity spread. Otherwise, Christianity would have been limited to one room.

Now again the persecutions on Christians are increasing because we are hiding in the rooms. The Lord is permitting enemies to enter into our rooms and beat us up. So that we will run and wherever we run we will spread the gospel. 

Christianity has spread not only by preaching, but also by persecutions. Therefore, all the sufferings that we go through will actually help us to protect our families and bless our families. It is also a blessing for our personal life.

John 16:33 – “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world”.

1 Corinthians 15:58 – Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.

According to the passage, always excel in the work of the Lord. Do not get tired. Do not wait for somebody to appreciate your work and come to you to exalt you. Do not feel that there is no fruit in your work. 

God says do not worry about the fruit. Because the fruit belongs to God and work belongs to you. God says you work hard and I will give you the fruit. 

When we plant something, we cannot pull the plant and make it big. It doesn’t happen that way. It has to grow by itself. We can only put manure and water and wait patiently for it to grow. 

In spite of praying sincerely every day, we get tormented or tortured and face persecutions and famines and unexpected tragedies in our life. Then many questions come to our mind. We wonder why these things are happening to us.

Sirach 39:16-17 – All the works of the Lord are very good, and whatever He commands will be done at the appointed time. No one can say, “What is this?” or “Why is that?” for at the appointed time all such questions will be answered. At His word the waters stood in a heap and the reservoirs of water at the word of His mouth.

According to the passage God said very clearly, that His works are good. Whatever He commands happens, but at the appointed time. For each and every work, God has appointed a time and it fulfils at the appointed time. At that time, we will get all the answers for our questions. We have to just trust in the Lord and His timings.

Transcribed by Greta Furtado