Jesus continues his high priestly prayer in today’s Gospel. After praying for himself, and for his apostles, Jesus now prays for all his followers, present and future. Jesus says, “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” Two themes emerge from Jesus’ words here as we draw to a close this Easter season.
The first is Jesus’ prayer for future believers. It’s humbling to hear that Jesus, over two thousand years ago, was praying for people like you and me. It’s also challenging, because it reminds us that our prays ought not to be just for those who are already our brothers and sisters in Christ, but for those who do not yet believe, but will come to believe in a future time and place. I cannot but help and think about the great saints of prayer like St. Monica, who ceaselessly prayed for the conversion of her son – Augustine – and how this son of hers would go on to be one of the greatest saints in the Christian tradition. Jesus prayed for you and me long before we could return his prayer and his love, and He continues to pray for us even when we are fickle in our love of him. Let us model our prayer on his great example or constancy and boldness, daring to pray for those who might not yet know the joy of his love.
The second theme from Jesus’ prayer is unity. Our God is a God of unity, of oneness, and of life. His followers, his Church, give a more profound witness to this one God the more she herself is unified. In fact, Jesus says that this unity of his followers, as a mirror of the divine unity, will be a key factor in the world coming to believe in Christ. As we prepare for the feast of Pentecost this Sunday, let us keep in mind that this feast is a feast of unity – God’s spirit drawing together a holy people and nation. Sin divides and causes disunity, God’s grace and spirit undo these effects to bring about unity and new life. Let Jesus’ prayer cause us to reflect on the ways in our life that we may not always be agents of Christian unity (in our family, in our Church etc.) and thus where God might be calling us to change as a means of responding to his desire that we be sanctified after the example of his own son.