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| "The Last Supper," by J. Tissot. Brooklyn Museum / Public Domain. |
John 17:1-11a, for the
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Christ ascended
into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father.
He wants us to be
with him in glory.
That wish fills
his prayer in his Gospel today.
Today we hear only
the first part of his prayer.
He goes on to say:
Father,
I desire that they also,
whom you have given me,
may be with me where I am,
to behold my glory
which you have given me
in your love for me
before the foundation of the world. [Jn. 17:24]
He wants us, and
we belong to him.
He wants us to
follow him to the Father.
He calls us to
that by the news of God’s desire and will for us.
In hope and in
faith we embrace God’s goodwill, and by love we embrace the mission he gives
us.
We underwent
baptism into God— Father, Son and Spirit.
In Baptism, they
have taken us inside the love they have for each other.
They hold us inside
their communion with each other.
They hold us
inside their oneness that is the Holy Spirit.
That we are alive
at all is already the fruit of God’s love overflowing in action.
Though sin
overtook us, and though we freely chose to go along with sin, God has always
been calling and reaching out as our savior, for his love never gives up.
Though Christ has
fulfilled our ransom, he wants for us much more than freedom from sin.
He wants us to
live in glory at his side.
That is the
mission his Father chose to give him on earth.
Together with the
Father and the Son, the Spirit is also at work.
The Spirit helps
us choose and work to enter what Christ has already fulfilled: to enter the
love that Christ has for the Father, and to receive the love the Father has for
Christ.
The Holy Spirit
works to have us enter the Son’s love for his Father, and the Holy Spirit works
for us to receive the Father’s love for his Son.
Hoping for all of
that, we work with the Holy Spirit by the works of repentance, the works of
faith and the works of love for holiness.
We do those works
from our dignity as the Spirit-adopted sons and daughters of God in Christ.
Every Sunday, when
we declare our faith together at Mass, we say that we believe
in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life.
The Spirit is the
Father’s living breath that comes into the world from the lungs of Christ’s
risen body.
God is Love, and
Love is already alive and breathing in the world because Christ in flesh and
blood has risen from the dead.
We take a deep
breath of it only when we CHOOSE and DO and LIVE and HAND
OURSELVES OVER to what is OBJECTIVELY GOOD, to what is GODLY.
Inspired by God’s
goodwill, the Christian does good on earth to others for the glory of God in
the highest.
Christ has prayed
for this:
Father ... that the world may know that you have sent me and
have loved them even as you have loved me. [Jn. 17:23]
That is Christ’s
mission in his Eucharistic Body and Blood that are full of the Holy Spirit.
That is Christ’s
mission in his Body the Church.
That is our
mission, and its final fulfillment shall be our everlasting glory and joy with
Christ at the right hand of the Father in the oneness of the Holy Spirit.
Turn. Love.
Repeat.
