In today’s Gospel we see Jesus in the act of praying. It is just before His arrest; and He prays, not for His own safety, but that God may be glorified. Jesus also prays for His disciples. He sees them as a gift from the Father and commends them for their faith in keeping God’s word and believing that He came from God. Jesus, the divine Son of God, truly enlighten us. It is He who shows what God is like. In Jesus we see the loving and self-giving nature of God. Jesus did not pray only for His disciples but also for those who would come after them. He tells us all that eternal life is to know God, and to know himself as being sent by God.
At this time before Pentecost, we are invited to unite ourselves with the apostles and Mary and to pray for the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. In a world where people can easily fall for the big lie that there is nothing beyond this present life, we are called to have the love of Jesus as our guiding light, and to let that light shine in the world through the way we live our lives.