REFLECTIONS TODAY
Today’s Gospel tells of the first part of the prayer uttered by Jesus in John 17. The prayer highlights the mutual relationship Jesus has with the Father, expressed in the act of mutual glorification. This kind of glorification is far from selfish act. This mutual glorification does not glorify the self. In fact, it springs up from the self-giving act of God. The Father glorifies the Son by giving the Son the authority over all people so that the Son may give them eternal life. The Father’s glorification of the Son is salvific. Jesus, in turn, glorifies the Father by accomplishing the work the Father gave him to do. The work of Jesus is to bring about salvation, a work which he accomplishes to glorify the Father.
Do we glorify the Father the way Jesus glorified him? Does our way of glorifying God bring about salvation? How do we accomplish the work God gives us every day?
GOSPEL • 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 words 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.”
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2021,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.