Beliefs

The whole of chapter 17 of John's Gospel is
called "the priestly prayer of Jesus'. We are
: allowed to overhear Jesus at prayer with his
disciples at the Last Supper. We catch a hint of what
is dearest to his heart and what is uppermost in his
mind as he approaches his death.
In the early part of the priestly prayer we hear
Jesus addressing God as Father, we hear him
speaking about eternal life, about his mission m
the world, about prayer, about truth and integrity,
about joy and about consecration.
In the section in today's liturgy (vv 20-26) Jesus
prays for us. He prays not only for his disciples
gathered with him but for those who believe in me
through theirword. His prayer is unambiguous: that
they may all be one.
The unity for which Christ prayed is rooted in
and grows from the unity within God: Father, Son
and Spirit. We have learned to express this unity
in God in terms of the Holy Trinity: three persons,
one God. We have learned to recognise a unique
unity in Jesus himself, fully human, fully divine, one
person two natures.
Faith in that unity allows us to work toward
unity in faith.
Faith in that unity allows us great diversity in the
expression of our faith.
For most of us such talk about faith and unity
evokes memories of the ecumenical movement,
the annual week of prayer for Christian unity
and learning to be polite about other people's
religions.
If we try to pray the prayer of Jesus in John
17, we will be carried along past all the different
approaches to Church unity, biblical, theological,
historical, into the heart of the unity of God. We
will discover that the irreversible work of the
Holy Spirit is taking place in ways that surpass
our imagination. We will discover that spiritual
ecumenism lies at the heart of all prayer: oneness
with God.
Undoubtedly the greatest stumbling block in
the path of those who are searching for God is
the scandal of division in religious matters. And
the greatest weakness among Christians is the
divisions into so many denominations. According
to Wikipedia there are approximately 41,000 such
denominations!
Jesus and his disciples predated the radical
division between Synagogue and Church; the
great schism divided Eastern from Western
Christianity and the Reformation started the
unceasing splintering of Western Christianity. As
these divisions harden, the great priestly prayer
of Jesus is more urgent than ever.
The prayer of Jesus at the Last supper ends on
a note of divine-human love: he will continue to
make the Father's name known that the love with
which you have loved me may be in them, and I in
them. It is our prayer that we can share in that love:
the love of the Father for the Son and the love of
the Son for the whole world.
7th Sunday of Easter • Year C • Divine Office: Week III • 12 May 2013