Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus prays for our unity with him and for us to be immersed in God’s love. "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."
We
are not simply supplicants or penitents, calling to God from without;
we are sons and daughters, friends, calling to him from within. The
Paschal Mystery is intelligible only in the light of the doctrine of the
Trinity. God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, even to the
limits of godforsakenness, even into sin and death, into the darkest
corners of human experience, in order to find us.
But
this
acrobatic act of love is possible only if there is in the very being of
God a sender and one that he can send, only if there is a Father and a
Son. The language Jesus uses—"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"—shows us that the Father and the Son are united in
love, and this love is itself the divine life. Thus there is a Spirit, coequal to the Father and the Son.
Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Lectionary: 300
Wishing to determine the truth
about why Paul was being accused by the Jews,
the commander freed him
and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to convene.
Then he brought Paul down and made him stand before them.
Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees,
so he called out before the Sanhedrin,
"My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees;
I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead."
When he said this,
a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees,
and the group became divided.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection
or angels or spirits,
while the Pharisees acknowledge all three.
A great uproar occurred,
and some scribes belonging to the Pharisee party
stood up and sharply argued,
"We find nothing wrong with this man.
Suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"
The dispute was so serious that the commander,
afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them,
ordered his troops to go down and rescue Paul from their midst
and take him into the compound.
The following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage.
For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem,
so you must also bear witness in Rome."
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
May they all be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
that the world may believe that you sent me, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
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."
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