Gospel: John 16:23-28

 

This is the assurance that Jesus gives to His disciples: they can have access to God’s fatherhood in union with Him. He unites them to Himself, and in communion with Him they present their needs. In such a way, it means, in union with Him, the petition becomes effective. The object of any petition to the Father must always be joined to Jesus, that is to say, to His love and to His commitment to give His life for man. Prayer addressed to the Father, in the name of Jesus, in union with Jesus Christ, is heard.

 

Until now they have not asked anything in the name of Jesus, but they will be able to do it after His glorification when they will receive the Spirit who will fully enlighten them on the identity of Jesus Christ and will create the union with Him. The believers are taken into the relationship between the Son and the Father. 

 

What does this mean: “On that day you will ask”? It is the day when He will come to His own and will transmit the Spirit to them. It is then that the disciples, knowing the relationship between Jesus and the Father, will know that they will be listened to. 

 

The prayer to the Father. To pray consists, then, in going to the Father through Jesus; to address the Father in the name of Jesus. The love of the Father for the disciples is founded on the adherence of “His own” to Jesus on faith in His provenance, the acknowledgment of Jesus as gift of the Father.