5/21/2023 (Sunday) Today’s Gospel Reading: John 17:1-11A

1 Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
2 just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
3 Now this is eternal life: That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
4 I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.
5 Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.
6 “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.
7 Now they have known, that all things which you have given me, are from you
8 Because the words which you gave me, I have given to them; and they have received them, and have known in very deed that I came out from you, and they have believed that you did send me.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them whom you have given me: because they are yours,
10 And all my things are yours, and yours are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”

5/21/2023 (Sunday) Today’s Gospel Reflection: John 17:1-11A

In the gospel reading above, Jesus prays for His Apostles whom He has chosen but here, He considers them as gifts from the Father. These chosen people are in the world but they no longer belong to the world but to the Father. He taught them what they needed to learn and has given them their mission. He knew what difficulties they were to encounter as they go about to do their mission. So Jesus Himself entrusted them to God the Father almighty.

In His prayer, Jesus clearly revealed who He is – that He was with the Father before the world began, that He came to the world out of obedience to God’s will and that He is going back to His heavenly home after finishing the mission He was given to do.

In this prayer, Jesus also revealed to us how to give glory to God – that is to know Him and to accomplish the work we have been tasked to do. He left us His commands such as loving one another and going to all nations to preach the gospel. Not only that, He showed us the example of laying our lives for sake of the gospel. Let us recall that when he entered Jerusalem, He said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” (John 12:23) and when Judas left to carry out the betrayal, He said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him” (John 13:31). When He was already hanging on the cross, He exclaimed, “It is finished.” (John 19:30) In other words, God is glorified through obedience.

Just as Jesus prayed for His apostles, let us also pray for one another that we may all give glory to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ through the guidance of the Holy Spirit by faithfully obeying the commandments of Jesus.