June 1, 2011. Homily, Tuesday, June 7, 2011.

Jn 17:1-11a Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 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. "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 understand that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 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." The Gospel of the Lord.

The Great High Priestly Prayer from John 17 is the last speech from Jesus to His apostles before His Passion, Death and Resurrection. Jesus prays first for Himself in today's Gospel then for his disciples in the excerpt which we consider at this time next year (Cycle B) and then in the last excerpt which we consider in two years (Cycle C) Jesus prays for all Christians. When Jesus prays for Himself to the Father, Jesus follows the outline of the Lord's Prayer: Jesus calls God "Father" Our Father, who art in heaven Jesus looked up to heaven and said 'Father' Jesus blesses God's name hallowed be Thy name Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you. asks that God's will be done Thy will be done Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me that they may be one as we are one. and prays for deliverance from the evil one but deliver us from evil I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. Jesus says: "Now glorify me with you, Father, with the glory that I had with you before the world began." We go back to the beginning of John's Gospel: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God and nothing came to be except through him. And what came to be through him was life and the life was the light of the world. The light shone in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it. Jesus says: "Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began." Now, how is that done - through the Passion, Death and Resurrection which shows that Jesus has power over death. And onwards through us, through our witness to the Passion, Death and Resurrection. For Jesus continues in His prayer to the Father: "I revealed your name to those you gave me out of the world." To reveal the name of someone is to know that someone. To know is to understand. To whom did Jesus reveal God's word? Jesus continues "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." Jesus is talking about us. Jesus had given the name of God, the word, the understanding of God, to us, and we through our witness to God, to the life of Jesus, to the way of Jesus, will keep, God's Word, at the end of our lives we may be said to have kept God's word. The Great HIgh Priestly Prayer.