Praise God. We give God all the honor, the praise and the thanksgiving as we celebrate the seventh Sunday of Easter or Ascension Sunday.
I am so glad that we have come into the house of the Lord with joy. We have come to worship and make a joyful noise to the Lord from whom all good things come, for the Almighty is the giver of all good gifts, human and divine. So we praise God! Pray with me, if you please, from the 17th Chapter of the Good News according to the evangelist, John, the first through the 11th verses on the theme, " The hour had come for the glorified Son."
The setting is plain. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away all the sins of the world, offers his final prayers at his last Passover meal in that upper room which appeared spacious and well furnished.
Jesus had given his final farewells to his disciples and now prayed to the Father that he be glorified. Yes, the hour had come for the Father to glorify the Son. The Father had first glorified the Son during his incarnation when Jesus became man and had been conceived into the world through the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven.
Now, Jesus would be glorified again as he would be lifted up upon a rugged Cross, his second throne as Christ, the King of Glory. Yes, on this second throne, Jesus would draw all men and women to himself.
Yes, as Jesus be lifted up, he will draw all men and women to himself. The hour had come for the glorified Son. Everything that Jesus possessed had been given to him by his Father by the power of his Father' s love, and now everything that the Father had given to Jesus, the Son, had been given by Jesus to his disciples.
Yes, the hour had come for a glorified Son. Now, Jesus prayed for the world. Jesus realized that he was no longer in the world but would be ascended to his Father at the right hand of his throne in glory. Jesus prayed nonetheless that the joy of Jesus may be fulfilled in them, his disciples. Jesus prayed that they be not taken out of the world by the devil but that the Father protect them from the evil one.
Jesus prayed that his disciples be sanctified in the truth so as they be sent into the world that they might consecrate themselves into the truth of the Gospel. Jesus had said, " I am the way, the truth and the life." Yes, whoever believes that Jesus Christ is Lord, shall inherit eternal life. Yes, Church, the hour had come for the glorified Son.
As many of us rejoice in the season of Easter, we give thanks to God for the visit of our Holy Father, the pope, to America and the celebration of his birthday We thank God for Jesus and that his hour had come for the glorified Son. Alleluia. Alleluia. Amen.
A native of New Orleans, Deacon John Dupre' has served at San Francisco' s St. Anne of the Sunset Parish since 1993. His ministries include baptism formation, baptisms, preaching and social justice.
