May 12, 2005

I in Them and You in Me Jn 17:20-26

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:"I pray not only for these,but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you,that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one,I in them and you in me,that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me.I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you,but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them."
God with us dwelling among us within us, Jesus, Emmanuel, the Word made flesh, God with us. Jesus prays that we may all be one as God the Father who is with Jesus and at one with Jesus. This is a God who is not on the outside and separated from us but who is a part of my innermost being and inseparable from Jesus. To know God, the Father and the Son is to know love, a love that lived before the foundation of the world. I pray today that I can be connected and sharing of that wondrous gift of love with all who I encounter today and that I carry a sense of union with God within me.