The Daily Gospel

«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68 Tuesday, 06 May 2008 Tuesday of the Seventh week of Easter Today the Church celebrates : St Petronax, St Dominic Savio Saint Irenaeus of Lyons : "So that he may give eternal life to all you gave him" Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 17,1-11. When Jesus had said this, he 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 he 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. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. Commentary of the day : Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.208), Bishop, theologian and martyr Against the Heresies, IV,14 (SC 100, p.537 rev.) "So that he may give eternal life to all you gave him" In the beginning it was not because he had need of man that God fashioned Adam but so as to have someone on whom to set his blessings. For, not only before Adam but even before creation, the Word glorified the Father while dwelling in him and was glorified by the Father as he himself said: «Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the world began.» Further, it wasn't because he needed our help that he told us to follow him but to win salvation for us. Because following the Savior is to share in salvation just as following the light is to have a share in the light. When people stand in the light, it is not they who illumine the light and cause it to shine but who are illumined and made to shine by it. Far from contributing anything at all to it, they benefit from the light and are lit up by it. This is how it is in serving God: our service contributes nothing to God for God has no need of man's service; but to those who serve and follow him God gives life, incorruptibility and eternal glory... If God requests man's service it is so that he who is good and merciful might grant his blessings to those who persevere in his service. For, if God has no need of anything, yet man has need of communion with God. The glory of man is to persevere in the service of God. That is why our Savior said to his disciples: «It was not you who chose me but I who chose you» (Jn 15,16). Thus he showed that it was not they who glorified him by following him but that, since they had followed the Son of God, they were glorified by him. «Father, I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory» (Jn 17,24).