Good morning. Today’s Gospel is the continuation of a beautiful prayer that Christ says to his Father in heaven. As you may recall from yesterday’s Gospel, we heard Jesus pray for “those whom [the Father] gave [him] out of the world” and in whom he has been glorified (John 17:6, 9-10). Of course, we know that our Lord is talking about the disciples who were with him doing his public ministry. The disciples who he protected and guarded in the name of his heavenly Father, and he lost none of them except the “son of destruction”, because he desires for them to “be one just as [he and his Father] are one.”
More importantly for us, because God transcends space and time, Christ is also talking about all of us here and now - 2,000 years after our Lord and Savior ascended into heaven. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once said that “‘Ascension’ does not mean a departure into some remote region of the cosmos but, rather, the continuing closeness that the disciples experience so strongly that it becomes a source of lasting joy. Now, through his power over space, Jesus is present and accessible to all - throughout history and in every place” (retrieved on 5/23/2023 at Aleteia.org). Moreover, Saint Leo the Great puts it beautifully when he said that “our Redeemer’s visible presence has passed into the sacraments. Our faith is nobler and stronger because sight has been replaced by a doctrine whose authority is accepted by believing hearts, enlightened from on high” (Office of Readings, Ascension of the Lord. 5/18/2023).
My sisters and brothers in Christ, in the waters of Baptism and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we become adopted sons and daughters of our Father in heaven, who gives us to His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, out of the world. This should fill us with much joy and gladness because this means that we are chosen. This means that we are loved. Christ is glorified in us because he “acquired us with his own Blood” as he hung on the Cross. God delights in us and desires us to be one just as He and the Son are one. If that does not cause our hearts to overflow with faith, hope, and love for having been chosen out of the world, then let us listen to what Jesus has to say about us in today’s Gospel: “They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.”
We are in this world but we are not of this world because we are meant to be with Jesus in heaven. But here we are, fellow sojourners on this pilgrimage in life with hearts yearning for eternal life. Let us therefore consecrate ourselves to the truth. The word of God is truth. And these are his words that lead to salvation: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” In the same way that God sent His Son into the world and he gave of himself for us, Jesus sends us into the world and calls us to give of ourselves for Him and for each other.
. . .
Gospel of the Day
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying:
“Holy Father, keep them in your name
that you have given me,
so that they may be one just as we are one.
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me,
and I guarded them, and none of them was lost
except the son of destruction,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you.
I speak this in the world
so that they may share my joy completely.
I gave them your word, and the world hated them,
because they do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world
but that you keep them from the Evil One.
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
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.”
Listen to podcast here: https://phucphan.podbean.com/e/homily-for-the-wednesday-of-the-seventh-week-of-easter-5242023/
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