“These things Jesus spoke and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said: ‘Father, the hour is come, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He may give eternal life to all whom Thou hast given Him’ ” (John 17, 1-2).
First Prelude: Behold Jesus after the Last Supper, raising His eyes to heaven and addressing His sublime prayer to the heavenly Father.
Second Prelude: O Divine Saviour, let me share the sentiments of Thy love-inflamed Heart, revealed to us in Thy pontifical prayer.
First Point
“FATHER, THE HOUR IS COME”
Having once more lovingly instructed His disciples, consoled and addressed them most tenderly as “Little Children” (John 13, 33), “Friends” (John 15, 15), our Divine Saviour raised His eyes to heaven and said: “Father, the hour is come!” Oh, with what desire had Jesus during the time of His whole life desired this hour—the hour of His abasement and suffering, the hour of our redemption! “I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished” (Luke 12, 50). It was to this hour that He referred when He bade His Apostles rejoice with Him: “If you loved Me, you would indeed, be glad because I go to the Father” (John 14, 28). Still He chose to go to the Father by a burdensome and exceedingly painful and bloody way. His bitter passion and cruel death, all the humiliations and contempt that He was to endure were ever present to His divine omniscience. What are our sentiments when sufferings confront us, when there is question of making a sacrifice for the honor of God, for our own and our neighbor’s salvation? How we dread this hour! We think only of our sufferings, not seldom magnified by our imagination to such proportions as to make us forgetful of all else. Does not the generosity of the Heart of Jesus put us to shame? How little we understand, and how slow we are to imitate it!
Jesus counts all His sufferings, all the contempt and disgrace heaped upon Him as naught, knowing that through them He can effect our ransom, inundate us with heavenly joy and finally crown us with never-ending honor and glory. Let us show ourselves true disciples of our Blessed Lord in hours of spiritual darkness, and not presume to enjoy the fruits of His dark hour, while seeking only our comfort.
Second Point
THE SAVIOUR PRAYS FOR THOSE WHOM THE FATHER HAS GIVEN HIM
What a consolation for us to know that in His dark hour of suffering the Saviour prayed for us. Even then He offered the price of His Precious Blood for us, at which dear rate the Father presented us to Him as His redeemed. Oh, that we would often consider at what price we have been purchased! Must not our hearts be filled with love and gratitude toward God, with fear and mistrust toward ourselves? Could we ever forget the love with which Christ has snatched us from the clutches of Satan? Could we ever desist from holding fast to Him in persevering, humble prayer?
The Father has given us to Him, and His we will be with all that we are and have. Should this consciousness not reanimate our faith, strengthen our hope, and inflame our love anew? To whom do we belong? To the heavenly Father’s only begotten Son—“The powerful almighty God, who reigns for all eternity, and has power over death and hell.” He is our most amiable Lord, our most loyal Father, our most tender Bridegroom. We belong wholly to Jesus. How could we fear, even though we walk in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death! He will provide for us; He will protect and guide us, because we are His. He will never forsake us, unless we turn away from Him, not even if we betray Him through infidelity, and become entangled in the thorns of passion. He, the Good Shepherd, will pursue us and neither rest nor relent until He has reclaimed us. To whom else should we wish to belong than to our Saviour, Who alone can make us happy for time and for eternity?
Do I love my neighbor only in God and for God’s sake? Can I truly say that I belong wholly and unreservedly to Jesus? Which passion or evil inclination can dispute His right to my heart?
Affections: O my Saviour, how slow am I to follow Thee! When the hour has come for me to suffer for Thine and Thy Father’s honor and for my salvation, how weak and ineffectual does my love then appear! How easily do I complain of the least suffering, of the slightest humiliation! O my Divine Saviour, let the power of Thy prayer manifest itself in me! Behold, I am wholly and entirely Thine and wish to be Thine forever. I pray Thee, let the plenitude of Thy graces and the excess of Thy merit satisfy my defects and repair my infidelities, that I, too, may be able to say: “Lord, I have glorified Thee on earth, I have faithfully fulfilled Thy holy Will and accomplished the work Thou hast entrusted to me!”
Resolution: In the hour of prayer and sacrifice I will unite myself with my Saviour and beg Him to impart to me the sentiments of His Sacred Heart.
Spiritual Bouquet: “Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee.”
Prayer: Our Father . . .
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