Reflections on Scripture | Thursday of the 7th Week of Easter

Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

Choose either the video or audio below.

Gospel
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."

Reflection

This passage in John makes one of the most important teachings of Jesus more real for us. The incarnation is Jesus coming into the world, and we know that he came in as a human being, but he also came as a God. He was both human and divine. The model that he is giving us is a model of friendship, of relationships, of love.

Just as a father is in Jesus, Jesus is in the Father. So Jesus is in his disciples and disciples are in Jesus, and just as friends are in each other, they become one. It's a great mystery, and it makes clear that the work that we have is to surrender to reality, not to try to create something, but to allow a mystery to be real, to be lived, to be understood.

Closing Prayer

Father, we have a hard time in relationships. Often we find them difficult because we are trying to make them into what we think they should be, or we're trying to control the other person. Help us to enter into this mystery of oneness. Fill us with compassion, understanding, and a desire that all of us grow together in unity. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Kyle Cross