Gospel
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.”
The Gospel sounds like the ultimate love song. The proclamation of love between Father and Son and all the followers of Jesus.
This love that the Father has for the Son also being within us is profound and not to be glossed over. We are called to be one with Jesus who is one with the Father. We are called to share the love of the Trinity, one God, with others so that God’s love can reach all his children.
Are we living a life of love. A love given us by Jesus Christ.
A love greater than anything in this world. A love we only see a glimpse of since we as the created could not withstand the light of such love as God has for us. It shines past and through and envelopes all. So bright is that light of love we have nothing to compare it to.
No concept of love as great as God’s love is in our vocabulary or ability to conceive. For it exists outside of time and space as we know it. It simply is. As God is and was and will be forever.
This call to love then is an all in choice for us. At the same time we will always fail to love as much as God loves. But our limits don’t stop us from being one with Jesus Christ and don’t stop us from finding his love and truth now in this life.
Far from it. We are children of God who only have to ask and he will respond. We only have to strive to find his love and truth and joy.
So let’s be sincere and complete in our words and actions. So that when we ask to be one with God we hold nothing back. No part of our life or heart can be withheld from God.
To join with another requires opening ourselves so that hearts can join into one. We know this in marriage.
It is the same with God. When we are so close to Jesus Christ that our actions and life meld into his will, when we think of him in all decisions and relationships….we find that love and we find we are in Christ and he is in us. And his love flows through us to those around us.
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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