03/06/2025
๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ | ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐, ๐๐๐๐
๐๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ก ๐๐๐๐ค ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ
Gospel text (Jn 17:1-11a): Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, โFather, 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 he 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.โ
REFLECTION
โFather, the hour has comeโ
Fr. Pere OLIVA i March
(Sant Feliu de Torellรณ, Barcelona, Spain)
Today, the Gospel of Saint Johnโwhich we have been reading for daysโbegins by speaking to us of the โhourโ: โFather, the hour has comeโ (Jn 17:1). The culminating moment, the glorification of all things, the ultimate gift of Christ who gives himself for allโฆ โThe hourโ is still a reality hidden from mankind; it will be revealed as the plot of Jesus' life opens the perspective of the cross to us.
Has the hour come? The hour for what? For the hour has come for mankind to know the name of God, that is, his action, his way of addressing humanity, his way of speaking to us in the Son, in Christ whom the Father loves.
The men and women of today, knowing God through Jesus (โthe words you gave to me I have given to themโ: Jn 17:8), become witnesses of life, of the divine life that unfolds within us through the sacrament of baptism. In Him we live, move, and have our being; In Him we find words that nourish and make us grow; in Him we discover what God wants from us: fullness, human fulfillment, an existence that does not live by personal vainglory but by an existential attitude that rests on God himself and his glory. As Saint Irenaeus reminds us, โThe glory of God is man fully alive.โ Let us praise God and His glory so that the human person may reach his fullness!
We are marked by the Gospel of Jesus Christ; we work for the glory of God, a task that translates into greater service to the lives of men and women today. This means working for true human communication, true human happiness, fostering joy in the sad, showing compassion for the weak... In short: open to Life (with a capital L).
Through the Spirit, God works within every human being and dwells in the depths of each person, constantly encouraging everyone to live by the values of the Gospel. The Good News is an expression of the liberating happiness He wants to give us.