FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
Thursday May 25, 2023
WORD of the DAY
Lifting up his eyes
to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “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. And I have given them the
glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in
me,
that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you
sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your
gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see
my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the
world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and
they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it
known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in
them.” (John 17: 20-26)
How shall I live this Word? 
With the Gospel proposed by today’s liturgy, let us go back to reading chapter 17 of the Evangelist John in which he presents the priestly prayer of Jesus. In His prayer, Jesus looks to the future; He prays for the disciples of all times. They are the ones who will believe through the word of the disciples, in every moment of human history. “.. so that they may be one as we are one”; Jesus insists on building unity, because He knows that the evil one is at work to bring about division. This desire of Jesus, the Son, is great and expressed peremptorily to the Father: ‘I want’. And His desire for unity supports us, guards and defends us in the fight against the evil one.
The unity that Jesus asks is not an end in itself, but tends essentially towards mission. The fraternal union of believers will let the world know that Jesus is the definitive messenger of God who loved His disciples with the same love with which He is loved by the Father, the immense love of God for every person.
Furthermore, unity and diversity are not in opposition. Indeed, it is not a question of a unity existing in spite of diversity, nor of a diversity in spite of unity. Unity and diversity are instead, in the mystery of the Church, two constitutive dimensions of communion. We speak of the diversity of charisms, ministries, forms of life and apostolate which together constitute the unity of the Church as a witness to today’s world.
In a world where division seems to be the solution to all kinds of problems and difficulties, the Christian says that communion is possible.
The voice of Pope John Paul II
The universality of the Church on one side brings the most solid unity. On the other, it is a plurality and a diversity that do not impede unity. Instead, they confer a character of ‘communion’.
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E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com Comment: Sr. Vilma Colombo, FMA
