THE PRAYERFUL HOUR OF GLORY

HOMILY FOR THE SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Acts 1:12-14        1Peter 4:13-16        John 17:1-11

The thread running through today’s readings concerns the place of prayer in the Christian life. According to the First Reading, following the Ascension of Jesus the apostles, Our Lady, and some disciples gathered in the upper room to engage in continuous prayer. In the Gospel, which is the first part of the high priestly prayer of Jesus, we are presented with Our Lord’s prayer for Himself. In the second and third parts of this prayer (the gospel readings for the seventh Sunday of Eastertide in Years B and C ), He prays for His disciples and for all those who have been entrusted to Him.

Jesus raised His eyes to heaven. In this gesture of prayer, Jesus reveals Himself as the great intercessor. He opens with the words: Father, the hour has come. Calling God ‘Father’ means that Jesus has an intimate relationship with God the Father: Jesus is far more than ‘a Son of God’ – He is The Son of God, the Word of God spoken for the purpose of creation, the Second Person of the Trinity. During His ministry, Jesus repeatedly asserted that ‘my hour has not yet come’ (cf. Jn 2:4, 7:6.8), but now He declares that the hour has come. This is the hour of His death (cf. John 12:23-24), the hour of the cross. Then Jesus submits His requests: Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you (v.1) and Glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed (v.5).

In His prayer, Jesus reveals that the purpose of His coming into the world was to give glory to the Father by making eternal life accessible to those entrusted to Him. He associates this ‘hour’ with His glorification. In His prayer for glory, Jesus is speaking of the cross, and in particular of the glory that comes from the cross. But how exactly will the cross bring about this glory? The cross demonstrates the extent to which God was *and is* prepared to go for us because He loves us so much. The cross was and is a symbol of humiliation, ridicule and disgrace, a cruel means of execution devised for those transgressing the civil law of the day. Did Jesus break either the civil or the religious law? Not at all. He was innocent. The respective authorities brought charges but couldn’t make them stick because He had done nothing wrong (Lk 23:41).

Our Lord offered the sacrifice of Himself in our place to overcome the stranglehold that sin and death had over us. By the humiliation, ridicule and disgrace of the cross, He led us out of our own ridicule and disgrace, that we too may experience glory by the mystery of the cross. That is why, ever since Our Lord’s body hung on it, the cross is a sign of both sacrifice and glory. It is by the glory of the cross that we, who have been entrusted to Jesus, gain eternal life. You may well ask: “What did Jesus mean by ‘eternal life’?”. Jesus Himself delivered the answer: that they may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (Jn 17:3). This ‘knowing’, this ‘knowledge’ (from the Greek γινώσκωσιν / ginōskōsin, the tense γινώσκω indicating its impartation as ongoing and continuous) is an experienced-based knowledge - the knowledge of the very life of God Himself!

Now, Jesus not only prays for the manifestation of God’s glory through the cross; He also prays for His disciples who accept and believe in His teaching. Our Lord emphasises the vital importance of prayer. He Himself knew all things, and yet even He prayed. So should we! Even when we feel confident about possessing sufficient natural talents, strengths and gifts to overcome specific difficulties facing us, we are nonetheless obliged to pray and to bring these matters before the Lord. The maxim is that we must pray as though no works would help, and work as though no prayers would help. Prayer remains the key to our glory, the glory which derives from the cross. By perseverance in prayer, we will develop ever-deeper confidence in God. St. Peter speaks of this in the Second Reading: if you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. Whenever we suffer ridicule, exclusion or even persecution for being Christians, that experience of suffering becomes an opportunity for us to rejoice that it edifies us and gives glory to God.

Finally, the sacrificial offering of prayer needs to be accompanied by an appropriately sacrificial attitude. As we have seen in today’s Gospel reading, the priestly prayer of Jesus highlights His sacrificial love, by means of which the glory of the Father is manifested. Our prayer too must be sacrificial in order to give glory to God. At this time in the Church’s Year, our prayers are expectant, awaiting a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us. Our faith, hope and zeal will be invigorated by the turbo-power of the Holy Spirit. Remember that, after the Ascension of Jesus, the apostles and disciples deliberately immersed themselves in continuous prayer. They prayed and prayed, but at that point they were lacking the power and energy and drive required to make them great witnesses to the authenticity of the resurrection.  They sorely needed the boost of raw power that comes from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. May the fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we pray for today gift us with the assurance derived from that experience-based knowledge of God, and equip us with the confidence to keep on witnessing to Christ. Amen. God bless you.