Tuesday of the Sptième Week of Pascal Time [English]

Saint Paul receiving the farewell of the Ephesian priests. Galloche, Louis (Paris, 1670 - Paris, 1761)

The Courage of Farewells and the Certainty of the Presence

Mass Readings: Acts 20:17-27; Psalm 67/68; Jn 17:1-11a

We continue our journey in this seventh week of Eastertide, a suspended time where the Church invites us to dwell in the expectation of the Holy Spirit. Last Sunday, we heard Christ lift His eyes to heaven to entrust us to the Father, reminding us of this essential promise: we are not orphans left to the chance of history.

Today, the texts of the Mass bring us into the realism of this confidence. Following Christ does not mean benefiting from insurance against the difficulties of life, but learning a new way to go through separations and uncertainties. We see Paul and Jesus at the moment of farewell, two men standing face to face with their destiny, because they know that their existence is anchored in a fidelity that surpasses visible horizons.

First Point: The freedom to give everything and hold nothing back

The first reading shows us Saint Paul in Miletus, summoning the elders of Ephesus for what will be his farewell speech. It is a text of overwhelming humanity, where Paul does not speak as a theorist, he pours out his heart. He recalls how he served the Lord in all humility, in tears and trials, but what strikes us in his attitude is his immense inner freedom. He says he is compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, while knowing that chains and trials await him there. The mark of a life truly inhabited by the Holy Spirit is not outer comfort, but inner peace in the midst of uncertainty.

Paul adds a phrase that should disrupt our logic of security: “but I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course...” Humanly, it would be natural to try to preserve our life, our reputation, our comfort; to calculate risks, foresee what might happen to us, etc., but Paul has let go, his life no longer belongs to him, it has become a gift! The secret of peace does not consist in avoiding suffering, but in finding a reason to exist that is greater than our own survival. When we accept that our existence is consumed for the Gospel, the threats of the world lose their power over us: Paul can leave in tears, but he leaves free, because he has kept nothing for himself.

Second Point: The Hour of truth and life as a relationship

This heroic detachment of Paul finds its source and fulfillment in what today's Gospel of John tells us, where Jesus lifts His eyes to heaven and says: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you”. For the world, the hour of Jesus is the hour of total failure, that of betrayal and the Cross. But for God, this hour is that of glory, because it is the moment when love manifests itself in its absolute purity, without any calculation. The glory of God does not reside in a power that crushes, but in a love that gives itself to the very end of vulnerability.

Jesus then defines eternal life in a way that overturns all our representations: “and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”. We often think that eternal life is a question of duration, a sort of infinite time after death... but here Jesus tells us that eternal life is a question of relationship. To know, in the Gospel of John, means to love, to enter into a deep intimacy.

Therefore, eternal life is not a future reward, it is a quality of presence that begins here and now when we step out of our isolation to enter into the friendship of Christ. If you live today knowing that you are loved by the Father, you have already entered eternity; death will not be able to destroy anything of this bond, it will only make it fully visible.

Third Point: Inhabiting the world from Heaven

The end of Jesus' prayer places us back before our daily mission: “And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you”. This is the tension of our Christian existence: we remain in the world, with its noises, its bills, its violence, and its fatigues; Jesus does not withdraw us from concrete reality, but He prays for us because we belong to Him. He says to the Father: “all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them”.

Here is our true protection: we are the ground where Jesus is glorified. The Christian is the one who is left in the world to be the reflection of another homeland. If the disciples were able to stand after Jesus' departure, and if Paul was able to walk toward his chains in Jerusalem, it is because they knew they were carried by this constant prayer of the Son before the Father. We are not orphans who must defend themselves alone against adversity, but we are enveloped by a love that preceded the creation of the world. Our presence in this century is not a condemnation, it is an embassy of grace.

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Conclusion and application for our day

The Word of the Liturgy for this Tuesday invites us to a profound conversion of our gaze on the future and on our daily fears.

• First of all, let us agree to let go of control. What is the situation or relationship that you are trying to hold onto out of fear of tomorrow? Like Paul before the elders of Ephesus, agree to surrender this reality into the hands of the Holy Spirit. Tell yourself that you do not know what awaits you, but you know Who awaits you. Peace begins where our need to control everything ends.

• Secondly, nurture eternal life in the present moment. Do not live your faith as a simple list of moral obligations for the sake of heaven. Take time, in the midst of your activities, in your car, or during your housework, to turn to the Lord to cultivate this intimate knowledge: a simple inner glance, a silent word of love addressed to Jesus transforms ordinary time into an eternal dwelling.

• Finally, be witnesses of gratuity. The world operates on performance and self-interest. Today, choose to perform an action, render a service, or say a kind word without expecting anything in return, simply because you belong to Christ. It is in this way that the Son is glorified in us, and that our daily life becomes a living preaching.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I thank You for the strength and clarity of Your prayer. Thank You for lifting Your eyes to heaven for me, at every moment, before the Father. I entrust to You my fears of the future, my resistance to detachment, and my anxious need to control everything. Give me the courage of Saint Paul to know how to move forward where Your Spirit leads me, even when the path is dark.

Holy Spirit, come expand my heart so that I may learn to live eternal life starting today. Purify my gaze so that I may recognize You at the heart of my ordinary activities. Do not let me live as an orphan, but root within me the certainty of my filial belonging.

Father, all that is mine is Yours. I give You my day, my joys, my fatigues, and my joys. Make me a witness of Your grace in this world, without ever letting myself be absorbed by its anxieties. May my life glorify You and manifest Your invisible presence to those who seek You. Amen.