“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.” (Jn 17:24)
With the Feast of the Ascension moved to the 7th Sunday of Easter in most Catholic dioceses of the United States, we no longer hear the readings from the 7th Sunday of Easter. In this Gospel verse from the 7th Sunday of Easter, we hear Jesus’ intimate prayer to the Father, asking the Father to protect his disciples, and to allow his disciples to dwell with him forever.
Jesus speaks of the Father loving him before the creation of the world. Do we feel similarly loved by God? The psalmist writes in Psalm 139, that even before we were conceived in our mother’s womb, we were named and loved by God. Our self worth is measured in how much God loves us, and is not defined by how the world sees us. As Jesus was a gift from God to our world, so we, too, are gifts of God’s love to our world.
To be “God’s gift to the world” does not imply that we think the whole world revolves around us. That kind of narcissism is the antithesis of being a gift from God. Rather it is measured by humility, realizing the gifts God has given us are meant to be shared, and by serving others as Jesus served. Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving. As his disciples, we, too, must be gifts that keep on giving. In this way, we will be one with Jesus in his glory.
