SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER

Tuesday

Readings

First Reading
Acts 20:17–27

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 68:10–11, 20–21

Gospel
Jn 17:1–11a

Meditation on Today’s Readings

Today’s readings juxtapose the farewell messages of Jesus and Paul. This prayer of Jesus is his final “report” on his mission, all but accomplished now. It takes us back to John’s prologue. There we learned that the Word came from God and, becoming flesh, made his dwelling among us that, in him and through him, we might see God’s glory (1:14). Now the incarnate Word, the Father’s only Son, prepares to return to the Father, to the glory that was his “in the beginning” (1:1). He has finished the work he was sent to do and has glorified the Father by entrusting to his disciples the message the Father had entrusted to him. Mindful that he “will no longer be in the world,” he prays for these disciples.

Leaving Ephesus, Paul also knows that he is not long for this world. He too reports on his mission. He has delivered the message entrusted to him by the Lord Jesus, never shrinking from announcing “the Gospel of God’s grace.” All he wants now is to finish his race and complete his service. Thus he commends himself to the elders of the church in Ephesus, and to us.

The copyright for the Sunday Missal Introductions is:
Copyright (c) 2001, Daughters of St. Paul
The copyright for the Weekday Missal Introduction is:
Copyright (c) 2002, Daughters of St. Paul