Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
June 6, 2019
Today, in Mercy, Jesus continues to pray. What a blessing it is to be able to place ourselves next to Jesus and listen to his prayer!
The flow of this prayer shows clearly that it is part of an ongoing and continual conversation. Jesus is always in a relationship of presence with the Father. He just allows us to listen in John 17.
By our listening, we may grow in the depth of our own prayer. Jesus prays:
- for God to be glorified
- for all to be one in God
- for the wholeness and perfection of all Creation
- for eternal, Trinitarian life for his followers
- for God’s love to live in our hearts
These requests are the same things the Father wants. These are the reasons the Father sent Jesus into the world. So, in his prayer, Jesus is praying for God’s Will of love and wholeness in the world. He is praying for oneness with the Father.
We can grow in this kind of prayer by opening our minds and spirits to God’s heartbeat in our lives. St. Teresa of Avila said it like this:
“Through a truth glimpsed fleetingly in a state of prayer he calls to us.
No matter how halfhearted such insights may be, God rejoices
whenever we learn what he is trying to teach us.”
– The Interior Castle
and
“Let the truth be in your hearts, as it will be if you practice meditation,
and you will see clearly what love we are bound to have for our neighbors.”– The Way of Perfection
Through intention and practice, and responsive to grace, there comes a point in our spiritual life when we are never unaware of the Presence of God. The intensity of this awareness will vary, like the volume in a beautiful piece of music, but the Divine music is still always there, even in its necessary rests.
( Rests are intervals of silence in pieces of music, marked by symbols indicating the length of the pause. Each rest symbol and name corresponds with a particular note value, indicating how long the silence should last.)
Whether we are in a “rest” or a full, resounding note, let us become aware of God’s Presence in us and our presence in God.
Music: My TOP favorite piece of music. ( P.S. Whoever is in charge, please play this at my funeral.)
Messe solennelle en l’honneur de sainte Cécile: Sanctus – Jessye Norman