Today in the Mass readings for the Latin Rite, we hear Jesus tell his disciples: “I have said this to you, so that in me you have have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage: I have conquered the world!” (Jn 16:33).

The Paschal context of this statement of Jesus’ lends itself to much depth and, consequently, many complementary (and not contradictory) understandings.

Christ was going to his death: He knows these persecutions, darknesses, and hardships.

Christ mentioned “the world”: He knows this ambivalent reality, with its good and its bad; and in all of it, he has conquered.

Christ mentioned that the Father was always with him: He is always in communion with his Father and their Spirit, and the Holy Three are always waiting to be in communion with us.

Christ was instituting the Eucharist: He is present in the sacrament of the altar, and he wills to make us (all of us) his Body.

In all this, Christ’s itinerary was Paschal: He begins with the world’s sadnesses and converts them, by some divine alchemy, into something good, something joyful, something full of more hope than we ever imagined before the trouble, danger, and unbearable darkness came. Courage and confidence in God are not ill placed. They are placed exactly where they can never fail.