| Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter |
Piety
Father, thank you for sending to us the gift of your Son, Jesus, who died a gruesome death to give you glory. Jesus, we praise you for never stop praying for us to attain unity with you and the Father. You know that we always need your support. Continue to send your holy breath to instill in us the strength and gifts of the Holy Spirit, our Special Advocate. Holy Spirit, stay with us and lift us up to the tasks to which we have been commissioned by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Studyhttp://www.usccb.org/nab/052207.shtml
Over the next four days, the daily Gospel reading will be from John Chapter 17, known as the Priestly Prayer of Jesus. This is the longest prayer transmitted to us by the Gospel and “embraces the whole economy of salvation, as well as death and Resurrection.”[1]
This “Prayer of the Hour of Jesus” was offered for us on Holy Thursday, the evening of His arrest, after the Last Supper in which He gave His holy body and blood to His disciples and after Judas had gone out into the night to betray Him.
Jesus always prays before decisive moments in his life and ministry. While many times Jesus goes off by himself, the Gospels contain two other explicit prayers offered by Christ during his public ministry. One is related in Matthew 11:25-27. The second prayer is the prayer before the raising of Lazarus (John 11:41-42). In these, we see how Jesus was constantly offering petitions to the Father and praying in thanksgiving.
Before the Prayer at the Hour of Jesus, Christ had just finished a long discourse to the disciples, in which He explained to them about the tribulations they would face, ending with: I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” John 16:23
The notes from the New American Bible (N.A.B.) teach us that Jesus offers this prayer to the Father “as intercessor, with words addressed directly to the Father and not to the disciples, who supposedly only overhear. Yet the prayer is one of petition, for immediate (John 17:6-19) and future (John 17:20-21) disciples.” The notes to the N.A.B. go on to note that “many phrases reminiscent of the Lord’s Prayer occur. Although still in the world (John 17:13), Jesus looks on his earthly ministry as a thing of the past (John 17:4, 12). Whereas Jesus has up to this time stated that the disciples could follow him (John 13:33, 36), now he wishes them to be with him in union with the Father (John 17:12-14).”
Just as this prayer unifies Jesus and the Father, it also is a prayer of hope for us to achieve eternal life. It goes so far as to define that eternal life as unity with God. “This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent.” (John 17:3)
Jesus wants us to know the Father that he loves so much. Jesus addresses God as “abba” or “daddy.” What are you doing in your life to get to know God as your father?
Do you turn to your “abba” when you are faced with difficult or even overwhelming circumstances?
Follow the example of our friend and savior Jesus Christ. Prayer with thanksgiving to God and offer petitions like he does for the entire flock.
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