So that the world may believe!

 I was angry with Jesus and said: How would YOU feel if you prayed for something and got 'NO' as an answer for 30 years?


Immediately, I thought I should look up all the prayers Jesus prayed that are mentioned in the Bible and check whether He got what He asked His Father for! After all, if the Father, Son and Spirit agreed on something, there shouldn't be any problem in that becoming a resounding YES, right??!!

But before I could look, I knew where the answer was already: John 17: 20-21. When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, praying before He consented to suffer and die for all humanity, He was praying for you and me! Yes, YOU and ME!

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. "





Jesus prayed for us to be united in Him and His Father, just as perfectly as they are united in each other, so that the world may believe. Wanna know why the world still doesn't believe 2000 years later? ??!


Yep. We are saying 'NO' to Jesus' prayer. For 2000 years.


That was enough to make me forget what I was fighting with Him about.

(We'll pick that up later.)



As a mother, I experience great pain when my children fight with each other- even for the smallest things. Yes, I know that they are human and disagreements and friction are part of their humanity and any normal relationship. But the slightest sign of disunity between them stings my heart because I know what joy they are missing out on in that momentary lapse of empathy or unity.


However, my joy overflows and has no bounds when they are united: working on projects together, standing by each other when any one of them is being held to account, truly enjoying each other and helping each other out in their frailties.


So, I can imagine how pained God- the Father, Son and Spirit- feel when I speak ill of my Christian brethren, or hold grudges or in any way decrease the possibility of that complete unity in Christ becoming a reality.


And I can see Him smile when I make an effort to dialogue, support and build bridges with even those Christian brethren that have been taught to belittle other Christians for a variety of reasons.


But I don't think anything will give God more joy than seeing all His children come together wholeheartedly for a grand feast of Christ's body and blood in the family meal: the Eucharist. By receiving Jesus Himself in His body and blood in the Eucharist, we are united with Him and He unites us with other believers- His Church.


My children have no genes nor cultural legacy in common because they were born to different birth mothers. Yet, their unity is so astounding that people thought they were twins when they were younger. One of my family members still thinks of them as twins because they do everything as a team. Once, I walked in on them playing together. Both said they were playing two different games yet each was convinced they were playing together. Their astounding unity comes from their attachment to us- their parents- and the common life we have together, which is a grace from God, something we did nothing to deserve or earn.


And in an even more profound way, our unity with other Christian believers- even if we see absolutely nothing in common- comes from our attachment to Christ and the common life we have in Him. He is the one who draws us in love to Him and each other in the Eucharist.


So, the next time you feel any sense of distance or antagonism towards anyone who believes that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Saviour, remember:

  1. Jesus prayed for our unity the night before He died for us (John 17:20-21)

  2. Jesus invites us to come together to the Eucharist and receive Him and His grace to be united in Him (John 6:22-71)

  3. Jesus rejoices when our unity proclaims Him more effectively to the world than any sermon or acts of charity could. (John 13:35, John 17:23)

So, let's get over ourselves and answer Jesus' prayer with a YES!

 


if you can't see the video, please click this link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5NjhTnRDrE

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 30, 2020 at 5:29 AM

    Thank you so much for this, so blessed by it, it's been on my heart too for a while now❤️

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 30, 2020 at 6:27 AM

    Christian unity has and is so fundamental. Inspired teaching... loved it

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownOctober 1, 2020 at 3:24 AM

    I pray Let's ALL BE ONE Christians, Catholics, Believers, etc. Let's all pray for UNITY.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The ABC of Dementia Caregiving

Image
In the last 5 years, I have found that it is extremely difficult to explain to anyone unaffected by dementia (or wilfully ignorant of it), what exactly a dementia caregiver (unpaid, voluntary responsibility-taker) does all day, all week, all month... So I came up with one word for every letter in the A-Z so that someday if you are faced with the choice of taking up responsibility for your LOWD (Loved One With Dementia) you have some idea what you are signing up for: A is for Advocate  Speaking up for those who cannot speak up for themselves.  Being an advocate for your LOWD's rights, wishes and especially for their rights that are in conflict with their own wishes B is for Bum area (et al) specialist The actual daily responsibility one human being can take for another is directly understandable by how much they know about their fluid intake and output, the quality and frequency of their bowel movements, their susceptibility to UTIs and bed sores and most importantly how to get them
Read more

LISTEN

Image
Like any other busy mommy, I find my brain wandering away for a little private picnic in the land of imagination every once in a while because a real picnic is nowhere on the horizon. On one such trip, it came up with a messymiraculousmommy's list of recommendations for new inventions: A self cleaning house: No need for dusters, brooms, pans, mops, scrubbers, washcloths when you have a self cleaning house. Whenever a stain or some dirt appears, that part of the house just eats it up. Three advantages: [a] the more dirt the house eats the stronger it gets [b] kids can enjoy being as messy as they wanna be [c] house is always clean without mommy doing anything! A mischief detector: When a mischievous plan is being cooked up, the mischief detector goes off, letting the mischief planner know that his or her game is up. Mommy doesn't even need to know about what she didn't need to handle. The super duper multi level planner: a computer t
Read more

10 things about motherhood that I wish I knew before becoming a mother

Image
This week 10 years ago, I was making the huge transition from ‘I’m a barren woman waiting for a baby’ to ‘I’m a mother and my 3-month-old daughter is coming home soon!’   This week 10 years ago, the sight of baby clothes, the smell of baby powder and the feel of baby diapers brought a huge smile on my face instead of the usual streams of tears.   This week 10 years ago, my life changed irreversibly and I have lived the best 10 years of my 42-year-old life. The heavens had opened and God showered on us a season of immense favour after what seemed like an eternity of wandering in the desert.   In these 10 years, I served through only two short hospitalizations for family members in comparison with 7 hospitalizations with family members and 6 times being hospitalized myself in the decades prior. I’m not even counting the very many accidents, surgeries not requiring hospitalization and other caregiving adventures. Through all these experiences, God had taught me a lot about mo
Read more