John 16:17-22

Heavenly father
give us grace in times of weeping and lamenting to experience the everlasting joy of the resurrection

¹⁷ Some of his disciples therefore said to one another,
“What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me;’ 
and, ‘Because I go to the Father’?” 
¹⁸ They said therefore, “What is this that he says, ‘A little while’? We don’t know what he is saying.”
¹⁹ Therefore Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them, 
“Do you inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said,
‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me?’ 
²⁰ Most certainly I tell you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.
You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 
²¹ A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her time has come.
But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more,
for the joy that a human being is born into the world. 
²² Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you.