Knowing where we are going is very helpful. There may be different paths to get there: we may encounter obstacles. As we travel along, we find help from others. We are all called to journey toward God. In our readings, we encounter two individuals who say their farewells to their disciples. They end their prayer by praying for those who have been close to them.
In the first reading, St. Paul bids farewell to the leaders and the people of Ephesus and Miletus. He asks the leaders to continue to watch over the flock which has been entrusted to their care. He speaks of the hardships and attacks they will experience in the days ahead, once he is gone. He reminds them, as he says, of Jesus’ words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” With that, he prays with them and takes leave of them.
In the Gospel, Jesus bids farewell to His followers. Chapter 17 of St. John’s Gospel is Jesus’ prayer for His disciples and that includes us. Jesus asks His Father to take care of those who have been called in His name. He asks that those who will continue His ministry will be made holy in the truth.
These readings, together with our experiences over the years, give cause to reflect on saying our “good-byes”, our last words to those for whom we cared and those with whom we have shared so much time is never easy.
St. Augustine once remarked,
“our souls are restless, until they rest in You, O God.” To put it another way: things change; friends will come and go, but our relationship with God is a “sure thing.” Jesus addresses his heartfelt prayer for us fragile and vulnerable, who have discovered that we do not belong to the world, that we have been reborn. We can remain disciples only if we feed on the truth that derives from knowing the Word of God. We invoke the Holy Spirit to know the way to go. We are not alone: and we announce his presence to the world. Throughout the Gospel, Jesus reveals an extraordinary personal relationship with the Father: he is the beloved Son and the Father is always with Him. Jesus also wanted to insert us in this same relationship. The Master, now close to death, with a heart full of tenderness for his disciples, prays: "Father, keep in your name those you have given me, so that they may be one, like us". He invokes the Father to make us his children and, consequently, to join us together in unity.