Sunday May 28, 2017 7th Sunday of Easter: Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

Gospel – John 17:1-11A

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.”  

“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

697 Cloud and light. These two images occur together in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. In the theophanies of the Old Testament, the cloud, now obscure, now luminous, reveals the living and saving God, while veiling the transcendence of his glory—with Moses on Mount Sinai, at the tent of meeting, and during the wandering in the desert, and with Solomon at the dedication of the Temple. In the Holy Spirit, Christ fulfills these figures. The Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and “overshadows” her, so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus. On the mountain of Transfiguration, the Spirit in the “cloud came and overshadowed” Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter, James and John, and “a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’” Finally, the cloud took Jesus out of the sight of the disciples on the day of his ascension and will reveal him as Son of man in glory on the day of his final coming.

668 “Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” Christ’s Ascension into heaven signifies his participation, in his humanity, in God’s power and authority. Jesus Christ is Lord: he possesses all power in heaven and on earth. He is “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,” for the Father “has put all things under his feet.” Christ is Lord of the cosmos and of history. In him human history and indeed all creation are “set forth” and transcendently fulfilled.

2815 This petition embodies all the others. Like the six petitions that follow, it is fulfilled by the prayer of Christ. Prayer to our Father is our prayer, if it is prayed in the name of Jesus. In his priestly prayer, Jesus asks: “Holy Father, protect in your name those whom you have given me.”

690 Jesus is Christ, “anointed,” because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this fullness. When Christ is finally glorified, he can in turn send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him: he communicates to them his glory, that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him. From that time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the Body of his Son: the mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him:

659 “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” Christ’s body was glorified at the moment of his Resurrection, as proved by the new and supernatural properties it subsequently and permanently enjoys. But during the forty days when he eats and drinks familiarly with his disciples and teaches them about the kingdom, his glory remains veiled under the appearance of ordinary humanity. Jesus’ final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God’s right hand. Only in a wholly exceptional and unique way would Jesus show himself to Paul “as to one untimely born,” in a last apparition that established him as an apostle.

From “Great Crusade of Mercy” Testimony of Catalina Rivas (CM-61:9, CM-111:2-11)

CM-61:9) Everything that is Mine is yours.  I am yours.  Be Mine.  Just as I belong to the Father, you belong to Me.  Just as I am united with the Father, you will need to be united with Me and with Him.  For this, I have come into the world and for this I have paid, if you well remember.

CM-111:2) The day of His ascension is therefore celebrated as the crowning of Jesus’ earthly life, Who as you know, was placed in Glory only after the forty days that followed His Resurrection. 

3) A mystery of faith for you, My beloved children on earth.  You think that this occurred for the purpose of confirming the Apostles, and that is true.  You think that He wanted to make Himself seen as truly Resurrected and that is also true.  Those and at the same time, other divine and human reasons kept My Jesus on earth for forty days.  But why? 

4) Come and listen.  Gather around Me… Jesus’ Humanity took upon Itself all the sufferings, and all the burdens of mankind.  For that reason He immolated Himself and His Sacrifice was complete already from the first moment when He took life in Me.  And so nothing more was needed for that Blessed Humanity to pass from suffering to Glory at the very moment when He expired.  Yet, looking ahead with divine foresight to the needs of believers, it was appropriate that Jesus should not be placed immediately at the right hand of the Father.    

5) In fact, as a representative of humankind, He assumed all of its conditions, with the exception of the condition of true offender of God.  How many stop at the threshold of Paradise because they are not yet worthy to enter after they have died? 6) Jesus was infinitely worthy of Glory as soon as He expired, but nevertheless, with the exception of their suffering, He wished in some way to resemble the souls that are purified while waiting to enter their Glory. 

7) What a magnificent manifestation of truly infinite Love on the part of the Redeemer!  Who reflects upon those fine gifts?    

8) But there is something still greater.  You know that at the Last Judgment the good will be separated from the bad.  Well then, by delaying His triumphal entrance into Heaven, the Redeemer, the One who is to be Judge, obtained for My children who are good and who are destined to live the final days on earth reserved to humanity, the power to enter directly into their Glory, without waiting the time that would have been necessary for many because of some fault of theirs, and because of the tribulation they will undergo on earth.  

9) My little children, gaze with love on that Son whom I gave to you; admire His goodness and you will be happy.  He ascended among a multitude of blessed spirits.  In ecstasy and outside of Myself, I gazed at Him, already certain then, that He return to take Me in body and soul.  I waited and then He came in glory to transport Me here up above where He lives fully Glorified.    

10) You will also come.  You will also ascend if you follow His Path, His Truth and His Life.  Yes, little children, from now on I kiss your foreheads as a sign of your future reception. 

11) I am waiting for all of you to come here, close to My Jesus.

Each week we will be presenting a portion of the following Sunday’s readings, and linking it to relevant parts of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and messages from the Testimony of Catalina.  Pay special attention to the italicized underlined sections. We hope this is inspiring and educational. Any comments you have are certainly welcomed.