Both of the readings for mass today are about impending imprisonment and death. Saint Paul writes in today’s first reading that, “the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me. Yet, I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.”
Then, in the gospel today, Jesus is preparing to meet his own death, when he began to pray, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you … ” The rest of his prayer is absolutely filled with the Holy Spirit. It is very beautiful. Jesus is united with the Holy Spirit during his prayers, and his words to this day are filled with the Holy Spirit:
“I glorified you on earth, by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.”
The Trinity is a difficult concept to grasp sometimes. It’s hard to imagine that Jesus existed before the world began. How much he must love us, to have left the paradise of heaven, to suffer and die, that we might be able to live in paradise forever too! This is truly a love that the world has never known, except through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit fills the words that follow:
“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them.”
We watch television, read many books, magazines and other things on the internet that do not have the words of eternal life. The words in today’s gospel are Living Words. They come alive with a life all their own and are able to bring us such great comfort, and a deep sense of peace, in a way that no secular words ever could.
There are some people who avoid the bedside of a critically ill friend or family member sometimes, but what a beautiful thing it would be to read the words in scripture to them, like today’s gospel, if they are a Christian too. It is a beautiful thing to pray the rosary out loud, or read the living words of scripture to a critically ill family member, or a friend who is Catholic too.
The gospel is so very beautiful when Jesus said that he prayed for the ones his Father gave to him:
“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”
What a beautiful thing it is, that Christ went before us. He loves each one of us deeply. Why do we fear death so much? Saint Paul didn’t because of his great love for Jesus. His love for the Lord outweighed any of the suffering and trials he went through, including his own death.
May each of us grow in love for the Lord, more deeply, during the rest of our lives too. We love our families, and our friends, but in the end, it will matter the most, whether we truly love Jesus. May he become our best friend now, during this time in our lives, and later, in the paradise of heaven as well.
Daily Mass Readings:
Acts 20: 17-27 / Psalm 68 / John 17: 1-11a
