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The High Priestly Prayer, Part Three (John 17:20-26)

 Now Jesus prays for us, because we are the ones who have heard his message through his apostles. Jesus prays that we would be united to the apostles, and to one another, through his saving message. He prays that we would be united in the same way that he is united to the Father, and in the way that both the Father and the Son are united with the Holy Spirit. This is a mystery of deep prayer and contemplation, because he is inviting us to be in the fellowship of God Himself. Even this has a purpose beyond the enjoyment of it, because it will prove that the Father has sent the Son, and loved us to the end through him.

There is another mystery here, in the fact that Jesus wants to share the glory of God with us. We don't by nature have the ability to participate in the glory of God, or to share fellowship with Him. God has given us the grace to be friends with him, to be supernatural people.

Jesus prays for the apostles to receive the gift of heaven. Heaven will be the place of seeing the full glory of Jesus, which he shares in fellowship with the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus mentions again that he has been rejected by "the world," but he finds his solace in the Father, and in the fact that the apostles believe Jesus was sent by the Father. And everything in the end is bonded by love. Love is what makes heaven to be heaven. God makes heaven to be heaven, but God is Love.

St. John has never been able to contain his joy at this mystery, and it spills over to his other letters: 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John. God loves us and wants to enjoy our company forever. I don't understand it completely, but fortunately, we don't need to understand it, in order to enjoy it.

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