Dwelling in the Trinity: 7th Tuesday of Easter

Very rarely the gospels give us a glimpse of the intimacy of Jesus with the Father. The gospel of John gives us a treat in today’s gospel:

“And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.” (Jn 17:11)

What is remarkable is what we find in the middle of this intimacy: ourselves. The love that circulates between the Father and the Son is not a private exclusive affair but an inclusive centre of gravity that “draws all men” to Him.

In the moment when He is passing away from this world, He prays, and He prays mainly for those that were given to Him: “keep them in Your name… so that they may be one…” Jesus does not pray for the world, but He prays for them.

The condition to be included in this prayer is simply to believe that He came from the Father (Jn 17:8). We may suspect that this is an easy condition for us to fulfil because we have been believing it for years. But believing is not an exercise of the mind. It is a way of living. If we do not live according to our beliefs, we will end up believing according to our lives.

But if we do live according to the belief that Jesus came from and went to the Father and our lives are just a journey after His footsteps, then we have found our place in the intimacy of the Father and the Son. What else would we need?