Gospel JN 17:1-11A
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,
“Father, the hour has come.
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people,
so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with you,
with the glory that I had with you before the world began.
“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,
because the words you gave to me I have given to them,
and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,
and they have believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be in the world,
but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”
Reflection:
In today’s gospel, Jesus prays to God the Father in these words, “I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.”
This is a sentence that sets forth Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth. Sent by God the Father, he came to earth to bring glory to God by completing the work given to him.
But, the work of God was not complete with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He passed his work on to us who believe in him and in his message of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness.
This past weekend, eleven men who are studying to become deacons in the Archdiocese of Boston came to experience service at My Brother’s Keeper.
They spent three days carrying furniture, food, and the love and hope of Jesus Christ to people who reached out to My Brother’s Keeper for assistance.
In the evening as we sat in a circle in the prayer room discussing the people who we met and served, I watched the faces of the men alight with the Holy Spirit as they spoke of presenting a crucifix with the words, “We’re just the delivery men. This is the man who sent you the furniture.”
I was reminded of the verse from Exodus 34:29 when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets in his hands; he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with God.
And again in Matthew 17:2, during the transfiguration when we are told that Jesus’ “face did shine as the sun.”
Performing God’s work on earth is truly a transforming experience. It changes us to more closely resemble the one in whose image we are created.
During the closing ceremony on Sunday morning, one of the deaconite candidates, said to me in tears, “I don’t want to leave.”
I told him ever so gently, “You can’t stay here, my friend. You have to take Christ out and spread his love.”
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:1