REFLECTION for Tuesday, Seventh Week of Easter

TODAY'S  WORD

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

John: 17:9 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones You have given Me, because they are Yours."


TODAY'S REFLECTION

As people of faith, we are people of prayer. We pray to God the Father; we pray to Jesus, and in these days of preparation for the feast of Pentecost we pray to the Holy Spirit.

Our prayer can take many forms, praise, thanksgiving, petition, intercession.


FIRST READING

St. Paul, what he said in the 1st reading will certainly make anyone re-think about serving the Lord or going off on mission.

He said that he had no idea what will happen to him, except that the Holy Spirit, in town after town, had made it clear that imprisonment and persecution awaited him.

Yet, for St. Paul, life is not a thing to waste words on, and he only wanted to finish the mission of bearing witness to the Good News of God's grace.

For us, much has been said about the present situation and much  more can be said.

But let us not give in to despair. Rather let us, with the grace of God rise above the difficulties.


GOSPEL REFLECTION

In this morning’s gospel reading we find Jesus at prayer. He prays to God his Father and he prays in intercession for his disciples.

His prayer is set in the context of the Last Supper, the evening before Jesus is crucified.

He prays in the awareness that he is soon to leave his disciples, although, in reality, he will be with them in a new way, in and through the Holy Spirit.

The disciples in John’s gospel represent the disciples of every generation, including ourselves here this morning.

The evangelist wants to convey to us that the risen Lord is always praying for us.

His prayer for us is one expression of his love for us.

We pray for those who are significant for us, for those we care about.

Whenever we pray for others, we are entering into the risen Lord’s prayer for them.

Jesus’ pray for us expresses his desire for us, what he wants for us.

At the beginning of his prayer, Jesus declares what he wants for us.

He asks God to allow him to give eternal life to us. Jesus wants us to have life and have it to the full, and that desire is at the heart of his prayer for us.

According to our gospel reading, we can begin to experience this eternal life here and now insofar as we know God and Jesus whom he has sent, know them not so much with our minds but with our heart, the knowing that is the fruit of love.


RESOLUTION

Let us resolve to encourage each other to keep looking upward and forward and experience the workings of the grace of God.

GOOD MORNING

GOD BLESS YOU AND GIVE YOU A PEACEFUL DAY