COLLECT: “GRANT, WE PRAY, ALMIGHTY AND MERCIFUL GOD, THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT, COMING NEAR AND DWELLING GRACIOUSLY WITHIN US, MAY MAKE OF US A PERFECT TEMPLE OF HIS GLORY. THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”.
Acts 20:17-27; Ps 67:10-11,20-21; Jn 17:1-11a
The portion of the Acts of the Apostles we are meditating on concerns Paul’s prayerful Farewell speech to the elders of the Ephesian church in Miletus. In the portion of the Gospel of John we are meditating on today, Jesus prays for his disciples as well as all those who will later become his disciples to be one and united. This prayer is called “The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus”. This prayer so to speak, also forms part of Jesus’ Farewell speech to his disciples.
In both readings, Jesus and Paul witness to the power of God given to and working through them. Both attest today that their mission is coming to an end. They pray intensely for the people to whom they have preached. In these prayerful farewell speeches, both Jesus and Paul give pieces of advice as well as encouragement to their audiences so that what Jesus and Paul experienced in life during their mission but endured to the end, their followers may see them as models when they also encounter trials and difficult times in their mission and earthly pilgrimage.
Some questions we may ask ourselves are:
(a) Is life a failure unless we are getting a lot out of it?
(b) Is one a failure when one experiences sufferings, pain, persecutions, etc. in this life?
The lives of Jesus and Paul teach us great lessons, especially when we think that we are not getting a lot or even anything out of life and the work we do. The lives of the two personalities also teach us that the sacrificed life, the life that is characterised by trials, especially trial sufferings, pain, tribulations and persecutions, is not a failed life. Both Jesus and Paul considered this earthly life worth nothing unless and until it is used, spent and sacrificed for God and humanity.
We pray that we may consider this life as a race we are running to win a prize in heaven. This prize will only be won by those who are ready and willing to endure and persevere, it will be won by those who are ready and willing to sacrifice for the sake of God and humanity. May the Lord grant us the patient endurance in this race of earthly pilgrimage. Stay blessed.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, TUESDAY, ON THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES: ‘THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN, THE SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR, THE CROWNING WITH THORNS, THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIXION’ (WE PRAY FOR SORROW FOR SIN, PURITY, COURAGE, PATIENCE, AND PERSEVERANCE) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “WE HAVE PARTAKEN OF THE GIFTS OF THIS SACRED MYSTERY, HUMBLY IMPLORING, O LORD, THAT WHAT YOUR SON COMMANDED US TO DO IN MEMORY OF HIM MAY BRING US GROWTH IN CHARITY. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN.”
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com.
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