1-25 CHAPTER 17 VER. 1. _hese words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come: glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee_. These are the last words of Christ, when going to His Passion, and like the dying notes of the swan, are full of sweetness, lov... [ Continue Reading ]
_As thou hast given Him power over all flesh._ Because Thou, 0 Father, hast given Me power over all men, give Me also the glory which is necessary for its exercise and proportionate to it, that, as My Power is more ample over all men, so may My glory be most ample and be spread over all nations. Jus... [ Continue Reading ]
_But this is life eternal, to know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent._ This saying agrees exactly with what precedes. Christ gives the reason for seeking to be glorified. Because this glorification is the knowledge of God and of Christ, which is the only way to eternal life... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do_. The work of preaching and redemption, for which Thou didst send Me into the world, I shall in a few hours consummate after the brief period of My Passion and Death. And I am about to commit the teaching thereo... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have manifested Thy Name to the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world._ "This was the duty committed to Him by the Father." So S. Chrysostom. "Thy name, not as God, but as the Father," says S. Cyril. The _Interlin. Gloss_ says the same; and S. Augustine (_in loc_.), "For the Name of God was n... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now they have known that all things Thou hast given Me are of Thee._ All that I have said or done originally came from Thee, My teaching and My law.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest unto Me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I have come out from Thee, and have believed that Thou didst send Me_. Have a care for them, because I cared for and taught them, and they have accepted My doctrine, and believed... [ Continue Reading ]
_I pray for them_ (that Thou wouldst make them grow in the knowledge and love of Thee and Me): _I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And_ hence heretics in the time of S. Augustine (making a wrong use of his writings) taught that Christ prayed only for... [ Continue Reading ]
_And now I am no more in the world_ (I shall be soon out of the world), _but these are in the world, and I come to Thee._ I am leaving the world, but they remain in it, to preach the gospel, and therefore will be exposed to the hatred of both Jews and Gentiles, and countless perils. Keep them, then,... [ Continue Reading ]
_When I was with them I kept them in Thy Name, i.e._ "by Thy power, by Thy authority, as Thy messenger to them." So S. Cyril. For they, knowing that I was sent by Thee, willingly and boldly cleaved to Me, as knowing that through Me they were cleaving to God, and were blessed and protected by Him. Fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_And now come I to Thee_ (1 shall soon come at My ascension); _and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves_. I speak of these things, in order that the Apostles may fully rejoice with Me at these great blessings, and hope that they will hereafter be rec... [ Continue Reading ]
_I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil_. From the evil (1.) first of guilt, which alone is real evil. (2.) Of punishment, _i.e._, to preserve them from every adversity, or strengthen them to bear it. (3.) From the evil one, his sna... [ Continue Reading ]
_They are not of the world._ He repeats what He had said before about the world, to show why the Father should care for and protect them, viz., because they had left the world, and given themselves wholly to the worship and protection of Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sanctify them through Thy truth._ This signifies not the beginning of sanctification, but its progress and perfection (Rev. xxi.) Confirm and perfect them in holiness; pour into them by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost complete evangelical truth, that they may be filled with wisdom and holiness, both w... [ Continue Reading ]
_And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth_. 1st S. Augustine uses the word sanctify in its proper sense. I as the Son of God sanctify human nature which I have assumed, that by it I may sanctify the Apostles. As S. Augustine says, "When the Word was... [ Continue Reading ]
_Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their words._ Up to this point Christ prayed for the Apostles, and for those who were immediately converted by them. Now He prays for the whole Church, and for all future generations of Christians, for He is their F... [ Continue Reading ]
_That they may be all one._ By one faith, hope, charity, and concord. Learn hence how united Christians should be amongst themselves, and how far removed are they who disseminate discord and strife, from the mind of Christ. _As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the glory Thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one._ By the "glory," understand (1.) The glory of the Divine Sonship. For Christ has this as God by nature, and as man by the hypostatical Union. And this He gives to the holy faithful ones, to have it not by natu... [ Continue Reading ]
_I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and has loved them as Thou hast loved Me._ That their union may be consummated and perfected, as the union of many members in one Body and Head. For, as many members make up one body... [ Continue Reading ]
_Father I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: because Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world._ He sets forth, says S. Chrysostom, "the rewards which await them after death, to show the love of Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
_0 righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me_. Why does He call the Father 'Righteous?' (1.) S. Augustine (_in loc_.) says, "Because He justly deprived the world and the ungodly of the knowledge of Himself. For it is His justi... [ Continue Reading ]