We truly belong to God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – now and forever
Reflections on the readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter (May 24, 2020): ACTS 1:12-14; PS 27:1,4,7-8; 1 PT 4:13-16; JN 17:1-11
MISSIO offers “Mission In Scripture” to nurture a missionary heart, providing reflections on the missionary themes in the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days
The Priestly Prayer reminds us that the gift of salvation has a price...
The Gospel reading for this Seventh Sunday of Easter is the first part of what is call the Priestly Prayer of Christ or the Prayer of the Hour of Jesus. This is the longest prayer He said in any of the Gospels. Christ glorifies the Father and asks the Father to glorify Him as He comes near the end of His work on earth. He has obeyed Almighty God and done all He has asked in sharing His message and mission. Now Jesus turns over the care of the disciples to His Father. “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” (John 17:6-8). Everything the Father has belongs to the Son, and everything that the Son has belongs to the Father. Into this close and inseparable unity, Christ calls the Apostles and all believers who come after them. So, we listen gratefully as Jesus petitions the Father to look after those left in the world when He returns to heaven.
In many ways, this beautiful prayer echoes and expands the words of the Our Father in which we venerate the Father and His name, express concern for the glory of His kingdom, obedience to His will, and protection from evil. The Priestly Prayer reminds us that the gift of salvation has a price: the suffering and death of the Son of God on behalf of the people of God. Only this ultimate gift of divine love makes redemption and eternal life possible for us.
Suggested missionary action: Let us thank our Savior for sharing His life with us by demonstrating our faith in all we do. Let us ask Him to show us the way we are to take each day. And let us say the Our Father humbly, thankfully, and often.