Homily for Tuesday of the 7th Week of Easter

In the final days of the Easter season, the Church invites us to reflect back on the events leading up to the Passion of Jesus. Yesterday, we were reminded of the moment when Jesus told His disciples that they would abandon Him. Today, the Church gives us this intimate moment of prayer between Jesus and His Father.

The Last Supper had ended. Judas had already left, and the Eleven, were still gathered around the table with Jesus. Then they watched him “raise his eyes to heaven” and prayed, “Father, the hour has come.” The moment of His passion had arrived. It was the moment foreshadowed by the prophet Isaiah. It was the moment anticipated by Simeon when Joseph and Mary presented Jesus in the temple. It was the event spoken of by Jesus when Mary invited him to work a miracle at Cana. And I would venture to say that it was likely imagined by Jesus every time He saw a soul in need of redemption.

One of the greatest moments of salvation history was at hand. And knowing every detail of the suffering that He was going to endure, Jesus called out to His Father: “Father…give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you…”

These are the first words of what is known as the High Priestly Prayer, Jesus’ prayer of intercession for the Church. It is the longest prayer of Jesus anywhere in the Gospels. And in it, Jesus gives us the example that we are called to follow. He shows us that in moments of our own suffering, in our own difficult moments, we should turn to our Heavenly Father and ask Him to give us strength to endure those trials. We should turn to the Lord and ask for the grace to make it through those moments and to use them to bring glory to the Father.

That’s not always an easy thing to do. But it is possible. And when it happens, Jesus is walking with us through it because He experienced it. He shows us that good can come out of suffering, that it can lead to our redemption and salvation if we only turn to the Father in those moments and ask Him to be with us. So whatever difficult circumstances we might be facing in our lives, let’s try to imitate Jesus. May we make His prayer our own, turning to the Father and saying: “Father, may I glorify you.”

Photo: Jesus on the Cross by Christoph Schmid. Used under Unsplash license.