With a heart full of love

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33 NIV)

 Jesus spoke John 16:33 during His beautiful discourse to His disciples after the Last Supper. (See John chapters from 13 to 17)
 That evening, Jesus was facing what would be the most painful and grueling time of His earthly life, and He knew that His followers were similarly headed for a time that would severely try their souls. And so, with great love and compassion, He spends the whole evening with them giving them His final words of instruction and encouragement to help prepare them for what lay ahead.
 With a heart full of love for His followers, He starts off by humbling Himself to do the work of a servant in washing their feet and urging them to likewise serve one another in love.
 Then He gives them His new commandment to “love one another as I have loved you.” Besides this kind of Christian love becoming a testament to the world of the truth of Christianity, Jesus must have known that His disciples would need this kind of sacrificial brotherhood and the resulting unity in order to withstand the perilous days ahead.
 Jesus urges them not to let their hearts be troubled and gives them the good news that He will be going to heaven ahead of them in order to prepare the beautiful eternal home that awaits them, that He would not leave them comfortless, and that He would give them peace in the midst of their troubles. —George Sosich [1]

 And He departed from our sight, that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here. —St. Augustine

[1] Anchor Take Heart, I Have Overcome the World