7th Thursday of Easter

“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” (Jn 17:20)

Chapter 17 of the gospel of John is traditionally called the “priestly prayer”. What is interesting about this prayer is that Jesus seems to pray from eternity. In this intimate moment with the Father, He prays as if He was not in the world anymore. Still, after experiencing that “the world preferred darkness to the light”, He is convinced that more will come to believe through the “word” of the believers.

The gospel of John opens with an impressive prologue on the Word that became flesh. It continues with the spreading of the “word” of Jesus. And at the end it presumes that this “word” does not leave the world but stays with the disciples who will use it to draw more people to believe and have eternal life.

Jesus went up to heaven, His word remains here on earth. We are those who received it, those who keep it, and those who communicate it.

Daily Wisdom

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”

Antoine de St. Exupéry