A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “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.”
Aware that his time on earth is coming to an end, Jesus prays to his Father in heaven. He asks that the Father would glorify him and protect his disciples. Jesus also prays that the disciples would be one, just as he and the Father are one. In the same way Jesus begins the Lord’s Prayer with “Our Father,” the relationship that Jesus has with him is one that he invites others into—a relationship of protection, unity, and love.
God, help me understand that the prayer of Jesus is not something relegated to the past but is active and vital in the world today. Jesus says, “I pray for them.” At the right hand of the Father and daily in the celebration of Mass, he intercedes unendingly for the whole world. Help me recognize and receive the graces that pour forth from him through the Advocate and in the Eucharist and sacraments of his Church. As Saint John Paul II said of the Eucharist: “Could there ever be an adequate means of expressing the acceptance of that self-gift which the divine Bridegroom continually makes to his Bride, the Church, by bringing the Sacrifice offered once and for all on the Cross to successive generations of believers and thus becoming nourishment for all the faithful?”
Lord, open my eyes today the beauty of the Son, who is always faithful to your will. Hear his prayer and guide me to you as I strive to follow him.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.