A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays that the disciples may know the unity between him and the Father and that they may believe that God sent him. As they go out into the world to spread the Gospel, Jesus’ prayer expresses the desire for unity among the disciples and among those who hear the word from them. By being brought to perfection in the glory Jesus has given them, his followers come to know God and the eternal life Jesus offers them through his death and resurrection. “Father, they are your gift to me,” Jesus prays. That gift taken from the Father becomes Jesus’ self-gift of dying on the cross to bring all to eternal life with the Father.
Father in heaven, through the unity of your love, you give to your Son all who have lived in the world and those who will be born into the world. In giving this gift, he gives you glory through his perfect gift of self to the world in his sacrificial death and in his resurrection. Nobody is left out in the prayer that your Son offers for the whole world. For this, Jesus prays “that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.” God, help me understand my role in proclaiming this. What Saint Paul says in the first reading, I can say of my life and how I live out my faith: “I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.”
Thank you, God, for making of me and of the whole world a gift to your Son. Keep me always in his care and guide me in this world on the path to eternal life.
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.