(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
The setting is the Last Supper in John’s account of the Gospel. Jesus had finished giving his last intimate comments to his disciples. Then he began his last prayer with them as he prayed to his Father. In effect, he was giving his last report to the Father for the work he had done.
The prayer acknowledged that Jesus and the Father are one, united together; that he has fulfilled the charge given his; that he was returning to the Father while the disciples had to remain in the world. There the prayer asked that the Father protect these disciples, guard them in the truth and keep them from the Evil One.
If husband and wife, in the marriage embrace become one united whole, then we may understand the unity that exists with the Father and Jesus. It is a dynamic unity, with Jesus one with the Father and the Father one with Jesus; with Jesus one with the Father, and the disciples one with Jesus and, therefore, one with the Father.
The disciples are brought into the dynamic relationship of Jesus with the Father. It is like the dynamism of wife and husband that produces new offspring and propels the family into unity. It is a dynamism much stronger and more spectacular that then of the Big Bang theory at the start of creation. In fact, it is a dynamism “out of this world.”
We are the disciples and we are brought into this relationship of Jesus with the Father. We are consecrated in truth and consecrated for truth. Like Jesus, we have to receive the Word and share it with new disciples so that the Word of Truth will spread throughout the whole world. This consecration with protect the disciples in their world and bring them most intimately into the union of Father and Jesus.
The Lord has given us the example; his first disciples have passed the word on to us. Now we must be giving the word to the disciples to come after us.