Tuesday
of the 7th Week of Easter
May 19, 2015 8:30am
The gospel passage we hear today
is part of Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper.
Jesus is praying to the Father
and realizes that the Father has given him power to “give eternal life to” us.
And then Jesus says:
“Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true
God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.”
We usually think of “eternal life” as referring to the
length or quantity of life – to unending life.
It does mean that, but it also
refers to the quality of life.
Eternal life is the life of God
himself.
Jesus wants us to enter into this
and live it right now.
Notice that Jesus says: “Now this is eternal life, that they should
know you,… and him whom you have sent.”
The knowing that Jesus has in
mind is not just a mental or intellectual thing.
It is that.
It does mean that we come to
understand that God is love.
That is how Saint John defines
God.
But knowing God in this way also
means a closeness, an intimacy with God. It means that we have allowed God to really
touch our hearts.
It means, maybe above all else,
that we realize and even feel God’s love for us and allow that to transform us
into loving persons.
Theologically, it is right here,
on this basis, that Vatican II says that all persons can be saved – even if
they have never heard of or believed in Jesus.
They may not know Jesus in that
intellectual way.
But they may know him well in
their heart and be transformed by his love.
Maybe one of the clearest
examples of this is the famous Mahatma Gandhi of India.
So, our prayer this morning is: may
we know the Father as love who loved us so much that he sent his only Son.
And may the love of Father and
Son transform us into loving persons.
It is this knowledge of mind and
heart that brings us into eternal life, God’s own life.
