Reflection for the 6th Sunday of Easter, 2025

Reflection for the 7th Sunday of Easter

June 1, 2025

 

Acts 7:1-2, 55-60; Psalm 97; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20; John 17:20-26

…that they may be brought to perfection as one…

 

Shakespeare’s King Lear reminded his daughter to not be “a thankless child.” As children of the King of Kings we need reminders to thank Him, too. The Gospel today gives us some big reasons to be grateful.

 

Someone has thought of you, loved you, and prayed for you for over two thousand years!  We have Jesus’ words for it in St. John’s Gospel today:  “Holy Father, I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word….”

 

We are not only known, but appreciated!  This is not idle flattery.   Listen to Jesus again:  “Father, they are your gift to me.”  Aren’t there some days when we do not feel like a gift to anyone, much less to the perfect God of love and wisdom!  But we are!  We have God’s word for it right here.  Praise Him for making us His!

 

A sincere gift links the giver with the recipient through the love that is expressed in it.  Love tends to want unity.   Jesus doesn’t leave us in doubt about His desire to be with us:  “…That they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I  in you, that they also may be in us,… I in them, and you in me.”

 

Jesus doesn’t explain exactly how this union will take place, but we can learn from His example. He came to earth to be with us, to be physically present in our world.  We need to make ourselves physically present to Him.  Establishing a prayer time dedicated just to Him is a way to do that.

 

Our life of prayer will flow out to others and this is God’s desire, too.  He wishes

“that they may be brought to perfection as one.” From Jesus’ own words we see that the goal of perfection is not outlandish. It includes the brotherly and sisterly unity that we achieve by letting go of our own ways and desires at times. We were made for this.  It is up to each of us. We can help to bring about unity and peace.

 

Our union with our neighbors will also help bring outsiders or disenchanted believers back to the practice of their faith. The result will please God:  “that the world may believe that You sent me.”  Jesus emphasizes God’s plan by repeating it as He continues His prayer to the Father.

 

The Holy Spirit unites us in love.  Pentecost is one week away!

 

May the world believe in Jesus more because of you and me. Let us use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to witness to the world that Jesus has indeed come!

 

Have a Blessed Pentecost, filled with His love and His seven gifts.

 

….that the world may know that you sent me….

 

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“With Mary, our lives continually proclaim the greatness of the Lord and the joy experienced in rendering service to Him.”

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