The Christian communities around the world are preparing for the celebration of Pentecost next Sunday. The power of the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples while they were immersed in prayer. These days of preparation for Pentecost remind us also of the need to pray for our community to receive God’s power. Today’s Gospel reading also presents us with a prayer of Jesus. This prayer is known as “the Priestly Prayer of Christ”. Here, Jesus asks the Heavenly Father to give the protection of the Holy Spirit to his disciples after he is taken up to heaven.
Yom Kippur is the most important and the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar. The Jewish people observe this holy day with a day-long fast and prayer. Even now, they often spend most of the day in synagogue services. On this day, the people pray to God to forgive their misdeeds and purify their minds and hearts. Yom Kippur was also the only day the High Priest of the Jerusalem Temple allowed to enter into the Sanctum Sanctorum (Holy of Holies) of the altar to do atonement for the sins of the whole nation. Jewish tradition says that during this time, God writes each person’s fate for the coming year into a book. This day, the people pray that their name should be written in “the Book of Life” in heaven.
Similarly, Jesus is interceding before God for all of us. He wants God to “consecrate” his disciples. The church we gather on Sundays to celebrate the Holy Eucharist is a consecrated place for prayer and worship. A priest is also consecrated to do some special ministries. This means that something or someone is set apart for a special purpose by totally submitting to God. Only God can “consecrate” or “make things holy”.
At the same time, the consecrated houses or persons are given a mission to serve others. Jesus is asking the Father to change his disciples into a “property” belonging to God. Like Jesus, they should be fully available to God and to the people of God. That is why Jesus says: “As the Father has sent me, even so, I send you” (Jn. 20:21). Pope Benedict in his book Jesus of Nazareth says: “The Church is born from Jesus’ prayer. But this prayer is more than words; it is the act by which he ‘sanctifies’ himself, that is to say, he ‘sacrifices’ himself for the life of the world” (cf. Jesus of Nazareth, II, p. 101).
From the history of the early Church, we know that this prayer of Jesus had affected the lives of the disciples in their ministry. They remembered that Jesus prayed for them and had consecrated their lives to do God’s work. In the same way, Jesus had prayed for each one of us and had dedicated us also to God.
What the world needs today are people who can pray because our prayers have the power to open the doors of heaven and transform the world. Listen to these simple words of St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta: “I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.”
By looking at the face of the praying Jesus from today’s gospel, we may also ask these questions: How do I pray? How much time do I give to strengthen my relationship with Jesus? Does my prayer have the power to open the door of heaven so that I can see the face of God? Let us pray today so that our names also should be entered into the Book of Life in heaven.
Rev. Dr. Mathew Charthakuzhiyil