REFLECTIONS TODAY
Jesus prays not only for his disciples who are with him during the Last Supper, but also for all recipients of God’s message of truth. Even as the disciples are the direct beneficiaries of his intimate relationship with his Father, Jesus looks forward to other peoples who will come to believe through the disciples to whom he has entrusted God’s word.
The purpose of Jesus’ mission in the world is to let everyone know the Father—and that they may be one, even as he and the Father are one. Jesus has always intended the good news of salvation to go beyond the confines of his own group of followers and of Israel to reach the Gentiles, that is, all men and women. Once, when Philip and Andrew told him that some Greeks wanted to see him, Jesus saw it as signaling the hour of his being “lifted up” through his passion, death, and resurrection. “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself” (Jn 12:32).
In his paschal mystery, he opens the Kingdom to everyone. In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis invites the believers to move beyond themselves, beyond a world of “associates” to universal love. The sense of gratuitousness for having been gifted with faith makes it possible to welcome strangers, to give without expecting something in return, to have love that transcends differences of origin, nationality, color, or religion (FT, 1-3).
First Reading • Acts 22:30; 23:6-11
Wishing to determine the truth about why Paul was being accused by the Jews, the commander freed him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to convene. Then he brought Paul down and made him stand before them. Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees, so he called out before the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.” When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the group became divided.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection or angels or spirits, while the Pharisees acknowledge all three. A great uproar occurred, and some scribes belonging to the Pharisee party stood up and sharply argued, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” The dispute was so serious that the commander, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered his troops to go down and rescue Paul from their midst and take him into the compound. The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.”
Gospel • John 17:20-26
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.
And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”
Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.