May 21, 2015
Thursday,
7th Week of Easter
1st Reading:
Acts 22:30; 23:6–11
Gospel: Jn 17:20–26
Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed, “I pray not only for these but also for those who through their word will believe in me. May they all be one as you Father are in me and I am in you. May they be one in us; so the world may believe that you have sent me.
“I have given them the Glory you have given me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. Thus they shall reach perfection in unity and the world shall know that you have sent me and that I have loved them just as you loved me.
“Father, since you have given them to me, I want them to be with me where I am and see the Glory you gave me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
“Righteous Father, the world has not known you but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. As I revealed your Name to them, so will I continue to reveal it, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I also may be in them.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in
the Assimilated
Life Experience)
Jesus prayed: “Father, since you have given them to me, I want them to be with me where I am and see the glory you gave me…” This prayer is significant because it projects our glorious identity as sharers of that glory and as heirs of the kingdom.
Glory which is ‘Gloria’ in Latin, Spanish and Italian, ‘Luwalhati’ in Tagalog, and ‘Himaya’ in Cebuano is ‘kabod’ in Hebrew which was understood by the Hebrews as that “radiant manifestation of God in his grandeur” (see Ez. 1:28). It was in Jesus the Incarnate that humanity experienced this glory (see John 1:14). Our joy would be complete when we see God’s glory in its full radiance.
When God the Father entrusted humanity to him, Jesus as responsible steward, vowed to take us with him to share God’s glory. By this vow he marked us as sharers in the identity of Jesus as Son of God. St. Paul describes this identity sharing in these words: “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16). Aware of this identity we race with time to our rightful destiny, leaving us with no time for sin.
Does this remove in us all inclinations to sin? No. However, constant awareness of that shared identity will dilute the power of sin in our lives. When we are aware of the implication of our identity, the glitter of sin loses grip on our will power. Let us heighten our awareness of our identity as heirs of the kingdom lest we become obstacles to Jesus’ desire for unity. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM., MAPM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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