Mornng Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

In the true faith may we remain; in Jesus may we find hope; against exploitation of the poor may we help; against our faults may we fight; our bad habits abandon; the name of our neighbor may we defend; in the work of mercy may we advance; those in misery may we help; every danger of sin may we avoid; in holy charity may we grow strong; in the well of grace in confession may we wash; may we the friendship of our brothers and sisters win. Amen.

Morning reading

John 17:11-19 ESV :

“Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

“But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth….”

Reflections:

in God’s Name

The expression Holy Father is not found anywhere else in the Bible. Holiness refers to divine otherness, the realm of the divine in contrast to the mundane – this phrase captures beautifully God’s “purity and tenderness” (Westcott), the “transcendence and intimacy characteristic of Jesus’ personal attitude to God and of his teaching about God” (Beasley-Murray).

Name here refers to the reality that has been revealed — the Father himself. The name is the point of contact between Christ and his disciples in the Father. When Jesus says (again speaking from an eternal perspective) while I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me, he is referring to the protection they had by his own divine presence among them as the I AM. Jesus is asking God to continue to protect them by his powerful presence, a presence that will be mediated by himself and the Spirit.

what happened to Judas

Jesus points to two explanations:

1. Judas’ action fulfilled the scriptural pattern of the enemy of the righteous sufferer. This does not mean Judas was locked into some deterministic plan but rather “Jesus knew himself to be one with, and had to go the way of, the threatened people of God in the world to fulfill their God-given task” (Ridderbos). Thus, Jesus finds an assurance in the Scripture of the same sort he is offering his disciples, for they also are the threatened people of God.

2. Judas’s own character as “the son of destruction” – its basic idea is “to denote one who shares in this thing or who is worthy of it, or who stands in some other close relation to it” (Bauer, Gingrich and Danker). Judas had heard the words and seen the deeds and even been the recipient of special signs of love from Jesus, but in his heart he was not of the Father and so did not receive with humility, faith and obedience the one sent from the Father. When one rejects the offer of life one is left only with destruction.

The disciples have confidence because this same offer is made to them, as it is to everyone, and they have responded and received. Jesus is saying these things in the world, that is, in the arena of conflict, so that his disciples can have the full measure of his joy within them. This joy comes from total confidence in the Father and in his protection as well as in the intimate communion with him such as Judas lacked.

the Father’s protection

1. The Father’s protection is to be in the midst of the world, not through removal from it. In their identification with Jesus they draw upon themselves the world’s hatred of him, but they also share in his mission to the world.

2. The Father’s protection is from the evil one. Behind this world, which hates them, is the evil one, for “the whole world is under the control of the evil one”. The warfare motif runs throughout Scripture and is fundamental in Jesus’ own understanding of reality.

Although Jesus is about to complete his work of salvation, God’s warfare with the world will continue. Neither the Father nor the Son is going to abandon the world; rather they will continue to engage it, confront it and call it to repentance. “The disciples’ place in the world is not something that they can give up because the world is not something that God can give up” (Ridderbos).

the disciples’ consecration

Sanctifying is not the same as the cleansing, but it is related to the pruning. The word used here is related to the word “holy” that Jesus has just used of the Father. It means to consecrate, to set apart. It is used for the preparation necessary for entering the presence of God and for the commissioning for a divine task, e.g of a priest or a prophet. The whole people of God are set apart for God as a holy nation, answering the call to be holy as God is holy, in contrast to the foreign nations.

All three of these nuances are relevant to Jesus’ prayer. This sanctification is by the truth, that is, God’s word – i.e. Jesus’ revelation of God in word and deed. Jesus is himself the Word, as he is the truth. God’s word and truth correspond to what has already been referred to in this prayer as God’s glory and name. They are all manifestations of God that point to and actually enable contact with him in and through Jesus. As the disciples share in God’s glory and are in his name, so here this sanctification means being drawn “into the truth, into the unity between Father and Son, and into salvation in such a way that the Father’s being, his holiness, permeates them” (Tolmie).

Because the disciples have God’s truth they are set apart and sent into the world, just as Jesus was. Like him they are to be in the world but not of it, judging and calling the world by being the presence of God’s light, bearing witness to his love and offering his life in the midst of the world. They share in the very life of God in the Son of God through the Spirit of God, and thus they do the work of God as Jesus has done, revealing God’s love and life and light.

In this way, all three aspects of sanctification are evident: they are set apart to enter God’s presence, indeed, to have his presence enter them; they are commissioned for holy service; and they constitute the holy people of God, restored Israel, who are distinct from all others in the world because of the divine presence.

sacrificial love

Sanctification, like glorification, includes a reference to the cross, the moment of revelation when the truth of God — his heart of sacrificial love — is most clearly seen. The cross is the ultimate revelation of the truth, and thus his sacrificial death is necessary if the disciples are to be truly sanctified, an expression that could also be translated “sanctified in the truth”. The cross is also the final and supreme act of Jesus’ humility, obedience and death to self that have characterized his whole ministry and are at the heart of his relation with God. So his sacrificial death not only takes away the sins of the world and reveals God; it also completes the pattern of life that he will share with them.

The disciples are to have their life in Christ, as branches are in a vine, thus sharing in his very life with the Father, which includes a death of self. They will live out the life of Christ by receiving life from the Father and by dying to self and the world. And at the end, after walking as Jesus walked, their deaths, like Jesus’, will also be a glorification of the Father. Both sacrificial living and dying, whether by martyrdom or not, are part of the disciples’ sanctification (Chrysostom).

As the disciples bear witness to God in this way they will produce followers of God, just as Jesus has done. So the themes of consecration and sending lead naturally to the next section of the prayer, Jesus’ petition for those who will believe as a result of the disciples’ witness.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

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Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

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Peanut Gallery: A brief word of explanation – the general format for Morning Prayer is adapted from the Northumbrian Community‘s Daily Office, as found in Celtic Daily Prayer (see online resources here.) The Scripture readings are primarily from the Gospel of John, with the intent to complete the reading by Easter. Other Scriptures which illuminate the Gospel of John will be included along the way.

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.