On the Thursday before the Ascension, Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (16: 16-20) in which Jesus explains to the disciples, ‘In a short time you will no longer see me. Then a short time later, you will see me again.’

What is very evident in our Gospel today, Fr Paul notes, is the confusion of the listeners, in this case it is the disciples. The confusion of the disciples is completely understandable. What Jesus is talking about here is the Resurrection. For the disciples the resurrection of Jesus, or of anyone for that matter, is inconceivable. So, yet again, we see the slowness of the disciples to understand.  This slowness to understand is evident across all four of the Gospels.

Fr Paul says, we, the disciples of today, we are not so quick either when it comes to understanding and accepting the example of Jesus so for our reflection today, we might spend some time asking ourselves, ‘How well a disciple am I?’