Labor pains are often used to illustrate the messages of the Scriptures. Today's Gospel passage relates this "interim" time to the labor of a woman as she gives birth. This is a familiar simile used by Greek philosophers who commented that giving birth to a new age was always preceded by periods of turmoil and unrest. Both the St. John and St. Paul pick up this notion in their discussions of the period of time between Jesus' ascension and his second coming. While every comparison "limps" a little, this notion does help us to understand why the human condition is often fraught with pain and frustration.
While we wait for the second coming of Christ, we have been commissioned to bring the Good News of repentance to people everywhere, to baptize them in the name of our Triune God, and to work for the establishment of Jesus' kingdom here on earth. When he returns, Jesus will be expecting that we will have been faithful to that commission.
There can be no question that this commission is not the work of an individual or of a group of individuals. It is the Christian vocation. All of us are called upon to give birth to God's kingdom. All of us will, consequently, suffer labor pains.
CUSANS hold on to this idea as they unite their sufferings to those of Jesus' redemptive sufferings. We cling to the notion that by bearing the weight of the cross that has been given to us, we are hastening the day when Jesus will return to gather us in to God's kingdom. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. (John 16:21-22)