Jn 17:20-26
”I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Jesus Prays For, and Walks With, Us
Today we hear some of Jesus’s words from his final hours, shortly before his arrest, crucifixion, and death, in which he glorifies God who sent him, and his disciples who will carry on his mission and work. Jesus also lifts up his petition for connection and unity among all of his followers, modeled after his own union with God.
Jesus’s prayer for unity, for oneness, for his life being glorified in his followers’ healing and reconciling work in our world, is a prayer as profound and needed today as it was two thousand years ago. As we think about the strife and pain present in families and communities, between political parties and religions, and among races and nations, may we remember that Jesus has prayed for us and walks with us, never leaving us alone. May we be open to the Holy Spirit guiding us toward reconciliation, healing, and wholeness.
—Kristen Schenk is a former Jesuit Volunteer (Belize City 2008-10) and an alumna of Saint Louis University and Loyola University Chicago who now works in healthcare chaplaincy.
Prayer
God, in these fragile times,
Help us to remain open to your Spirit,
To work for the coming
Of peace and understanding
In our violent and divided world.
Amen.
—Peter Millar