Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter

A tree swallow works
the lake at Mount Saint Francis

Lectionary: 300

Father, they are your gift to me.
I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

I can think of few words more assuring than that first sentence above: "Father, they are your gift to me." 

It's nice when someone pays you a compliment. It's particularly delightful when an influential person  wraps an arm around you and speaks to An Authority saying, "This beautiful friend is dear to me!" 

Jesus spoke this prayer during his Last Supper, on the day of his sacrificial death -- the Jewish day began and ended at sunset -- and everything that happened on Good Friday makes sense only if we have received these words in faith. 

"They are your gift to me!" 

We, in turn, are Jesus's gift to the Father as he enfolds us in himself and surrenders to the Father. Through Baptism and Eucharist we are the Body which is offered to God 

as we find in the Letter to the Hebrews:

For this reason, when he came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me;

holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in.

Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,

Behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”

"I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world."

In one of his parables, Jesus tells of the wealthy man who invites his faithful servants to, "Come share your master's joy. As we approach Pentecost and the end of the Easter season we are still singing Alleluia and sharing our Master's joy, and particularly the pleasure he takes in calling us his people.