Sunday Vigil

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 16,23b-28

Until now you have not asked anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and so your joy will be complete. I have been telling you these things in veiled language. The hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in veiled language but tell you about the Father in plain words. When that day comes you will ask in my name; and I do not say that I shall pray to the Father for you, because the Father himself loves you for loving me, and believing that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world and now I am leaving the world to go to the Father.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Over the past days, the Gospel of John has shown us the bond of love that unites the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and also envelops the disciples. The fruit of this "large" love is joy for everyone. Communion with Jesus determines the new condition of the disciples, their being members of God's family, children of the One Father, brothers and sisters of all. Their condition of children allows them to ask the Father for anything and He will give it to them. It is the certainty Jesus confides his disciples before facing his "hour". This certainty is the reason for their "complete" joy. Jesus tells them: "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name." Their faith was still immature; they were looking at Jesus in human terms, according to the world's categories. They had not received the Holy Spirit yet in order to understand Jesus as their saviour. It was necessary to understand that Jesus, with his resurrection, ascended to the right hand of the Father and thus became the Lord of history. From that moment on they could invoke the Father "in the name" of Jesus, that is, with the strength of the intercession of that master who carried their prayer before the Father who sits and in heaven. He promised that he would speak to them more clearly: "'I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I ... will tell you plainly of the Father." The hour is the time from the resurrection onwards. It is also our time. And, indeed, the Gospel still speaks clearly to the entire world today about the mystery of the Father in heaven who sent his Son to save us. Communion with Jesus makes us aware of being part of his very mission: walking along the roads of the world to gather men and women and walk with them towards the Father. Jesus is about to pass from this world to the Father. When he returns to the Father he will no longer be alone, as he was when he descended; he will be accompanied by the disciples of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, whom he acquired with his love till death.