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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider I pray for them

I pray for them

Published May 19, 2026 12:05 am  |  Updated May 18, 2026 05:53 pm
REFLECTIONS TODAY
Today’s Gospel reading is the beginning of the great prayer of Jesus which is often called the “high priestly prayer” of Jesus. While it is the Letter to the Hebrews that presents Jesus as our compassionate High Priest, here Jesus acts as our intercessor before God. The high priest in Israel was selected from among the people and was appointed to represent the people in matters related to God. And this is what Jesus does. First, he focuses on his communion with God his Father. He asks his Father to glorify him by taking him through death to the glory he had with God before he took on human flesh.
As his prayer continues, it is his communion with his disciples that comes to the fore. He prays to his Father for his disciples, knowing that they will be living in a world that will often be hostile to their witness to the Gospel. This twofold dimension of our Jesus’ prayer should be the model of our own prayer. The Our Father or the Lord’s Prayer should be the pattern of our prayer: we seek first the glory of God and the coming of his Kingdom on earth. Then we present our own petitions as well the needs of our brothers and sisters.
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 2026.” E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
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