For the Father himself loves you

7 MAY (Jn 16,23b-28)

When you become one with Jesus Christ, you are one heart, one will, one desire and one relationship with Him. If the disciple is the heart of Christ and the heart of Christ is the heart of the disciple, then Jesus must no longer pray to the Father for us, as if we were two separate people, Him and us. We ourselves can pray to the Father directly, but always from his heart, his mind, his desires, from his will that are entirely in us. Then our prayer is the prayer of Christ Jesus and the prayer of Jesus Christ is our prayer.

St. Paul arrived to this perfect unity of heart, mind, soul and the very body. But we know that his race was long and tiring. From the Letter to the Philippians to the letter to the Galatians the path has been highly challenging.

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. Writing the same things to you is no burden for me but is a safeguard for you. Beware of the dogs! Beware of the evil workers! Beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, we who worship through the Spirit of God, who boast in Christ Jesus and do not put our confidence in flesh, although I myself have grounds for confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he can be confident in flesh, all the more can I. Circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee, in zeal I persecuted the church, in righteousness based on the law I was blameless. (But) whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and (the) sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ (Jesus). Brothers, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus (Phil 3,1-14).

Why, then, the law? It was added for transgressions, until the descendant came to whom the promise had been made; it was promulgated by angels at the hand of a mediator. Now there is no mediator when only one party is involved, and God is one. But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation. Peace and mercy be to all who follow this rule and to the Israel of God. From now on, let no one make troubles for me; for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body (Gal 6,14-17).

It is the true asceticism of the Christian: becoming one thing with Christ: one heart, one soul, one thought, one life and one mystery of crucifixion and glory. This journey must be uninterrupted. It must always be as if we were at the beginning. The Father must always see his Son in us, as he sees himself in his Son. It is in this perfect communion that the prayer of the Christian is prayer of Christ and the voice of the disciple is the voice of the Master with the Father.

On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. “I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

This should be the only conquest of the Christian: today, being the heart of Christ.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us one with Jesus.