Pain With a Purpose

English Homily- Fourth Sunday of Easter- Fr. David StephenThe “little while” Christ repeats to his disciples is the space most of us live in — between prayer and answer, suffering and healing, confusion and clarity. Jesus does not promise to remove that waiting, but uses the image of a mother in labor to show that pain with a purpose is never wasted. Christian suffering, when united to Christ, becomes purification, and our wounds become places where grace enters. Three practical ways to live through the little while: stay with Christ instead of running, reframe suffering by asking what God is doing rather than why it is happening, and hold to his promise over our feelings. Christ does not offer the removal of trouble but peace within it — and his final word is not sorrow, but joy.