May 14, 2010, Homily, Tuesday, May 18, 2010.

John 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 word you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood 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 Gospel has the conclusion of the farewell prayer of Jesus given at The Last Supper: known as The Great High Priestly Prayer. In it Jesus prays first for Himself, in this Cycle A Gospel, then for his Disciples, in Cycle B, and then for all Christians which He does in Cycle C. The part read in today's Gospel is similar to the Lord's Prayer in that it calls God "Father", blesses God's name, asks that God's will be done, and prays for deliverance from the evil one.

The Epistle reading is Paul's farewell prayer to the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus.

I prefer Paul's farewell prayer in his letter to Timothy: (2 Tim 4:6-8) Even now I am being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I am at the point of dissolution. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. I wait now my merited crown in heaven sure that God, just judge that he is, will grant it to me as he grants it to all who wait with hope for the Lord.