May 26, 2020  – Tuesday of the 7^th Week of Easter

Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052620.cfm)

During these days of Covid-19 pandemic when Churches were forced to close and people to be quarantined at home, we have also realized how we need each other’s prayer. Prayer gives us comfort in these difficult times. Prayer helps us develop a close and intimate relationship with the Lord despite the deprivation of the public celebration of the sacraments.

To pray for one another has given us hope too. To pray has helped us to grow in our faith and widen our consciousness to respond to those in need. 

Today’s Gospel reminds us of the intimacy Jesus shared with his Father. This is evident in the way the Lord Jesus prayed to his Father in heaven. There is tremendous confidence in Jesus and at the same time, that oneness he has with the Father. This is expressed by Jesus saying, “everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine.” This is how the glory of Jesus is also the glory of the Father. Hence, the suffering and pain of Jesus at his passion and even death is also shared intimately by the Father.

All of these have been revealed to Jesus’ friends who were also dear to the Father. Jesus treasures this friendship. And as a friend, Jesus manifests his concern by expressing his desire to pray for them. 

Jesus is about to leave physically in the world. But it does not mean that Jesus will abandon his friends. In fact, Jesus prays for his friends. “I pray for them,” said Jesus. This means that Jesus remembers his friends in his thoughts.

Being in the thoughts of Jesus also means that Jesus makes his person present in the life of his friends. It is a promise of faithfulness and of constant presence of God in our life, in each of us.

Today, Jesus reminds us too, that he prays for us and with us. Jesus joins us in our prayer. The Lord is there every time we pray. The Lord makes himself ever present the moment we also dispose ourselves in prayer. We can say this confidently, Jesus prays with me because he remembers me and he is with me.

Being remembered by Jesus in his prayers, let us make an effort too, to pray for others today. Pray for your friends, for your family members and those who really need our prayers. Prayer will make us more conscious of others as we become one with them in their hopes, joys and suffering. Prayer moves us also to respond and to be in solidarity with those who are in need of our help. In prayer, we also become more present with God as we grow in our confidence and faith in Him who calls us and loves us. Hinaut pa.

Jom Baring, CSsR