Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter

John 17:20-26

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. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

Opening Prayer: Lord, thank you for praying for me to the Father. By your grace, may I draw from this time of prayer a more profound sense of your love for me.

Encountering Christ:

1. That We May Be One: Jesus drew all of us very deliberately into the prayer he spoke to the Father, asking that we may be one, as the Trinity is one: “as we are one.” Jesus invited us to be “brought to perfection as one” into the love of the Trinity. Our Lord was about to lay down his life for us, but not before he explained what he hoped to accomplish—the unification of the Church as one body, participating eternally in the love of the Trinity. We are those believers. We are the Church.

    

2. They Are Your Gift to Me: Our Lord loves and values each of us so much that he called us “gifts” from the Father. His love for us is an unfathomable, never-ending, unchanging truth. Jesus doesn’t just love us when we’re behaving ourselves. He loves us always. He never takes his eyes off of us. The more deeply we comprehend his love for us, the less likely we will be to offend Our Lord through sin.

    

3. I Made Known to Them Your Name: Jesus’ only mission was to fulfill the will of his Father, and that included making known to us, in this present time, the reality of the Father. Jesus wants us to know his Father. He gave us the “Our Father,” and we hear in every Eucharistic Prayer at Mass an extended prayer to the Father. How often do we truly meditate on the nature of God Our Father and the love he has for us?

Conversing with Christ: Lord, the deep theological truths you present to us in your prayer to the Father feel beyond my grasp, yet I know that you desire union with my poor, humble soul. Please help me to “become as holy as I should” (Litany of Humility). Send your Spirit in a powerful way to me this coming Pentecost Sunday.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will read the first section of the Catechism to deepen my understanding of the Trinity.

Maribeth Harper celebrated paying the last tuition bill for her kids’ college by writing a book for parents who have college-aged young adults: A Spiritual Toolbox: Tips for Parenting through the First Year of College. She is a wife of thirty-five years, mother of four, and grandmother of twelve and counting.