Tuesday of the Seventh Week after Easter, May 21,2007

Scripture: Acts 20:17-27. Psalm 68. John 17:1-11. Lectionary # 298:

"And now. as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem." Paul
has the desire to celebrate the Feast of Weeks in the holy city of
Jerusalem. This is our Pentecost and Paul is driven by the Spirit as was
Jesus when he went into the desert to pray and prepare for his active
ministry. Paul now is seeing the end of his life's journey and his goal of
preaching the redemptive love of God seen in Jesus' death and resurrection.
Paul has less than a year of life left and he realizes this. His guidance
by the Spirit encourages us to be led by the same Spirit as we near
Pentecost. We too can be captive to the Spirit by our prayers, our
participation in the liturgy, and by our loving unselfish service to
others. We are encouraged by the Gospel antiphon,"The Father will send you
the Holy Spirit, says the Lord, to be with you forever. Alleluia." Jesus is
praying for us and his prayer seems to "capture" what Paul prays in his
desire to be in the Temple in Jerusalem. Through the Spirit we can enter
into the heart of Jesus through this beautiful prayer on Jesus' last day of
life. As a prayer, it needs no exegetical commentary; it speaks for itself
and is worth our while to read chapter seventeen of John's Gospel this week
as we continue our novena for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is
speaking the intimate language of love that he has for the Father and for
us, his brothers and sisters. He prays, "Holy Father, protect them in your
name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. Amen."