The four Gospels are full of challenges. “Love one another, as I have loved you.” “If you would be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor.” “Take up your cross daily.” “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
These directives are difficult in their own ways. But few are more demanding than the challenge Jesus offers in today’s Gospel.
We return to the scene of the Last Supper, Jesus’ final meal before His crucifixion. In these sacred moments, He delivers what is essentially His closing message; His farewell address. He turns to His Father in prayer and says: “As You, Father, are in Me and I am in You, may they also be one in Us, so that the world may believe.”
This is a powerful and moving prayer. Jesus is praying that His followers – both then and now – may be united. This prayer is especially meaningful to us, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement.
Our Founder, Servant of God Father Paul Wattson, believed this wasn’t just a prayer for the Apostles at the Last Supper. It was a prayer for the whole Church – for all of us. That’s why Christian unity has always been at the heart of our mission.
This Gospel reminds me of a story told by Sister Rose McGeady, who once led Covenant House, a shelter for homeless youth in New York City.
She told of a young woman named Kathy who arrived at Covenant House ragged and unwashed, clutching a small paint can. From the beginning, Kathy made it clear: she and the paint can were inseparable.
Eventually, Sister Rose gently asked what was inside. At first, Kathy would not answer. But finally, with tears in her eyes, she explained: “It’s my mother. Her ashes. I went and got some of them from the funeral home.”
Kathy shared that she had never known her mother. Her mother abandoned her just two days after she was born. Kathy was placed in foster care and grew up resenting her mother for leaving her.
But over time, Kathy’s heart softened, and she felt a growing need to find her. A social worker helped her locate her mother, who was in the AIDS ward at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Kathy went to visit, but once inside, she became overwhelmed with emotion. She retreated into the hospital chapel to calm herself.
Inside, a priest was reading this very Gospel: Jesus praying that all may be one. To Kathy, it felt like a message directly from God, urging her to see her mother.
When she finally entered the hospital room, her mother recognized her immediately.
The mother wept, embraced her and said she had prayed to see Kathy before she died. The very next day, Kathy’s mother passed away. Kathy said she kept her mother’s ashes to feel closer to her – to feel like they were finally united.
I believe it was Christ who reached out to Kathy in that chapel, through the power of His Word: “That all may be one.” That is His deepest desire for us.
And yet, so many in the world still don’t know Him, or have turned away from Him. Perhaps the only Christ they’ll ever meet is in you and me.
Division is not easy to overcome. But if we each focus on Christ, the true source of unity, we can become instruments of His Spirit, helping bring what is divided back together again.
