As we approach the end of the Easter season, we recall the joy we felt on Easter Sunday, a month and a half ago. More recently we celebrated the Ascension, Jesus’ glorious return to the Father in heaven. At the time, the disciples returned to the upper room and “devoted themselves with one accord to prayer.” We strive to do the same ourselves, as one people, one Church, praising and thanking God, for our Lord has conquered sin and defeated death.
Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word
We who are created in God’s image are always able to turn to God in prayer. This is what the first disciples did after Jesus ascended to heaven. This is what Jesus himself did when he knew that his hour had come. Today’s Gospel passage consists of Jesus praying to the Father for himself and his disciples on the evening before he would be arrested, sentenced, and crucified. May today’s readings remind us that we can turn to God whatever our needs and whatever our circumstances.
Reflections
When we pray, we often choose to go to a certain place. If we are praying alone, we may choose the foot of our bed or another quiet place inside or outside our home. If we are joining others in prayer, it is often our parish church. After Jesus ascended to heaven, his disciples returned to Jerusalem and immediately chose to go to the upper room of the house where they were staying. Christian tradition holds that they celebrated the Last Supper and received the Holy Spirit in this same room. Whether they’d decided to pray together and chose to come to this room, or whether they desired to go together to a familiar place and then chose to devote themselves to prayer, the place and the activity were well-linked.
This room was where they could go to know God and know Christ more deeply. This is what Jesus tells his disciples is the way to eternal life. Here in this very room on the night before he died he told them, “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (John 17:3). Scholars tell us that it is unlikely that these are his actual words, for nowhere else does Jesus refer to himself as Jesus Christ, but the idea that knowing the Father and the Son deeply and truly is the way to eternal life is what John chose to include in this pivotal scene in his Gospel. Jesus wants us to know him and the Father in the intimate way that we know close family and friends.
In his Gospel, Luke writes that at one point when Jesus is told that his mother and brothers are trying to make it through the crowd, he says, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Luke 8:21). Now in Acts, Luke writes that Jesus’ mother and brothers accompanied the disciples to the upper room and together with his disciples, male and female, devoted themselves to prayer. In doing so, they are acting on what they have heard, becoming ever closer to the Father and the Son.
Question of the Week
Where do I choose to go to pray? While I am there this week, how can I try to know God better?
-from Pastoral Patterns
readings of the mass
LISTEN HEREto the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, May 21, 2023
SELECT HEREfor the Readings of Sunday, May 21, 2023
Offerings
The Sunday offerings are a portion of our blessings that we give to God (Church) in gratitude to what God has done for us...ONLINE GIVING OPTIONS
