Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,

“Father, the hour has come….”

This 17^th chapter of Saint John has been called the priestly prayer of Jesus. Clearly he speaks and acts as our priest, the mediator before God, who will offer his life for us. He is the priest, the lamb, and the altar of sacrifice. Raising his eyes to heaven is a priestly gesture, even as we bow our heads and listen.

Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

Words like heaven, paradise, eternal rest and life-after-death are thrown around a lot during our funerals. They bring comfort to the bereaved. But what is eternal life? As Jesus speaks of it, it’s not a place, state or condition. Eternal life is knowing the only true God and the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ.

Once again we are reminded that Jesus is the gate, the way, and the life that leads to God. 

This should not be a new concept for the Jewish religion. The prophets, of whom Jesus is the greatest, spoke incessantly of God’s faithful love of his people. And they demanded a whole-hearted, appropriate response from God’s people. More than observing the Law, doing good or avoiding evil, God wants to love, and be loved by, his people. The faithful always knew that, and we should understand that the Holy Spirit of God has always moved the Jewish people to that “whole-hearted, appropriate response.”

Jesus reiterates God’s demand and goes one step beyond it – he fulfills God’s demand. In his total self-surrender to God through his birth, life, ministry, condemnation, torture, agony and horrible death he completely satisfies God’s desire. God can want no more of us.

We should only step into the swirling waters of Baptism and be swept away in the irresistible eddy of Trinitarian Love. And we do that as we live out our life in the sacraments. Fed by the word of God, nourished by his Eucharistic Body and Blood, edified by the Communion of Saints (both canonized and unrecognized), chastened by the Sacrament of Penance, guided by Matrimony and Priesthood, healed by Anointing, Consecrated in Confirmation – we live in his love.

I once visited a small park above Niagara Falls. I was astonished to find that anyone could wade into the rushing river there and be swept to his death within a matter of minutes. In fact, it happens often as suicides despair of life.

Christians also wade into the rushing waters of Baptism and find ourselves swept into God’s overwhelming love. The experience might not be quite so heady for most of us. Perhaps most of us enter that River of Grace farther upstream. But it is the same river and as we allow ourselves to be drawn into it we can be swept along. At times we’ll be overcome with fear and our ever-gracious God will allow us rest and room to breathe. There is no hurry. He has all eternity to show us his glory, and we have all eternity to enjoy it with ever-growing capacity.