Ukrainian Catholic ChurchAustralia, New Zealand and Oceania
The Missionary Decade. Day Six — “Sorrow That Becomes Joy: God’s Path for the Family”
May 20, 2026
We encourage everyone to respond to His Beatitude Sviatoslav’s invitation to prepare properly for the feast of Pentecost. Over the next few days, we will reflect on passages from the Gospel of John in the context of married and family life. Together, we will seek answers to important questions: how to preserve love in times of trial, how to learn unity, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, and mutual support, and how to build a family centered on God.
Wednesday, May 20
A reading of the Holy Gospel according to John 16:15–23
In today’s passage from Sacred Scripture, the Lord reveals to us an important truth about Christian life: a believer is not freed from suffering but, by following Christ, learns to experience suffering as a path which God can transform into a source of life and joy.
Very often we expect that faith in God should protect us from every kind of pain. It seems to us that the life of a Christian ought to be peaceful, easy and free from crises and losses. In a certain sense this is true, because living according to God’s wisdom truly protects a person from many mistakes that bring suffering. However, at times we mistakenly begin to perceive faith as a kind of “insurance policy” against difficulties: if I pray, go to church, and strive to live according to God’s will, then the Lord should remove every trial and not allow crises or pain in my family. Yet Christ speaks very differently: “You will weep and lament…” (Jn 16:20).
At the same time, there is no hopelessness or tragedy in these words, because the Lord immediately adds: “You will grieve, but your grief will turn into joy” (Jn 16:20). Here Christ is not speaking merely about a change of emotions — as though sadness will one day automatically be replaced by a good mood. He speaks about something far deeper: the inner transformation of the human person. What is today a source of pain can, with God’s help, become a source of life, wisdom, and joy. This is not the avoidance of suffering, but its reinterpretation and transformation. To explain this more clearly, Jesus uses a very expressive image from family life — a woman giving birth to a child. The pain of childbirth is real and very deep, but it is not meaningless. This pain leads to the birth of new life.
How important it is to understand this truth within married and family life! Even the best and most devout families are not free from difficulties. Incidentally, the “world”, understood as the reality that does not accept God, takes great satisfaction in this. Yet this does not happen because God somehow fails to do His part or because Christianity is ineffective. Quite the contrary — it is precisely in such moments that God can act in a special way, leading people towards an important inner transformation. With God, difficulties are not a sign of destruction — they often become a place of growth. And it is here that His words become a light for every family: “You will grieve, but your grief will turn into joy” (Jn 16:20).
How many different kinds of “pain” must be experienced in family life: misunderstanding, exhaustion, crises, the difficulties of raising children, financial problems, inner wounds, war and all of its consequences? Yet it is interesting that those families who try to build their lives upon God’s values often not only do not break under the pressure of trials but, on the contrary, grow even stronger in unity and love. Recent studies dedicated to analysing the condition of the Ukrainian family during the full-scale war show that many families during this difficult period have begun to value one another more deeply, to use their time together more consciously, and to experience more profoundly the importance of one another. Such facts once again demonstrate that family sufferings can become the “birth pains” of a new quality of shared life.
Therefore, dear married couples and families, let us not be afraid of difficulties. The Lord did not promise that the road would be easy, but He did promise that “our grief will turn into joy”. And if we remain with God even in times of trial, He will be able to transform our pain into a source of life, love, and deep inner joy.
Mission Tasks
1. Personal Level: Accept your difficulties today not as a defeat but as a place of encounter with God and an opportunity for further growth.
2. Parish Level: Let us pray together for the families in our parish who are experiencing trials and support them with a kind word or simple attention so that no one remains alone in their pain.
3. Missionary Level: Let us become witnesses of hope — through our own example, let us show other married couples that even amid difficulties, life with God leads to deeper love and joy.
