Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
The following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in
Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24
PietyWe are God’s gift to Christ. Think about that for a day when you are trying to pick out a birthday present or Mother’s Day gift.
Jesus prays to the Father and asks God to allow him (Jesus) to be with us always. Jesus knows what he is about to experience from not only strangers but from his own neighbors, members of his church and his closest followers. Betrayal. Abandonment. Denial. Arrest. A farce called a trial. Conviction. Torture. Execution. Despite all that, he still considers us God’s gift! And he wants to stay around people who will do all that to him. What’s more, Jesus is asking the Father to allow Him to institute the Eucharist (“I in them, you in me.” John 17:23).
We already know that we need to bring our petitions to the Father so that they can be granted. And we know that Jesus tells us to just ask and we shall receive. If God will grant our petitions, how much more easily will God fulfill the prayers from His only beloved Son.
Studyhttp://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/050808.shtml
| John 1 | John 17 |
| All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:3-5 | As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. "I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. John 17:18-20 |
| He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man's decision but of God. John 1: 11-13 | And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. John 17:23 |
| And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 | Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24 |
| From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him. John 1:16-18 | Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. John 17:25 |
Courage is needed in so many places throughout the world today.
Just consider the magnitude of the Cyclone Nargis which struck
Not only do the survivors need courage until aid gets to them, but also aid groups need courage to deal with the military government which does not want to allow foreigners to enter the country and see how bad conditions are.
The death toll has gone from 400 to 4,000 to 10,000 to 100,000 and may reach much higher. You can support your choice of other international relief and development organizations working (or trying to enter and get to work) in
Love existed before the foundation of the world. The people of
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