Father, may they be one in us

 Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year C - 29th May 2022

Gospel John 17: 20–26

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:

‘Holy Father, I pray not only for these, but for those also who through their words will believe in me.

May they all be one. Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. With me in them and you in me, may they be so completely one that the world will realise that it was you who sent me and I have loved them as much as you love me.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so they may always see the glory you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Father, Righteous One, the world has not known you, but I have known you and these have known that you have sent me.

I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so I may be in them.

Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

Aware that God desires my company, I begin my prayer time gently and slowly. I allow myself to become increasingly conscious of God’s loving presence in this moment ... of his living Spirit within me.

I read Jesus’s intimate, prayerful words, addressed to his Holy Father.

If I can, I read them aloud and let their mystery sink into my heart.

I notice if they find a welcoming home within me ... or if there is any resistance to them.

Do I thirst, like Jesus, for a sense of unity amongst all Christians?

In what ways could I acknowledge our differences, whilst celebrating what we have in common? I reflect ...

I read these profound words again. I listen to Jesus’s voice as he speaks to his Beloved Father... of his life in the Trinity... of his life in me ... of the Father’s love in me ...

Maybe I am able to sense the Christ’s presence within my body as I meditate on his words of relationship and love ... on his invitation to share in the mystical love of the Father.

I rest in Jesus’s prayer for all believers. When I am ready, I slowly end my prayer, perhaps saying ‘Come Lord Jesus, Maranatha!’