Relationships and intimacy are important in the Gospel of this past Sunday. Jesus wants us to understand how close he is to the
Father – that they are one. Beyond that, he offers the revelation that we are part of this oneness with Jesus and the Father when we love. God could not be closer to us. We are enfolded and surrounded by love.
Another
extraordinary thing Jesus shares throughout the farewell discourse is that we are inextricably bound up in the love of the Trinity. Put another way, God abides in us, and we in God. So we get to share in the union between the Father, the Son and the Spirit.
The implications of this are astounding. We share in God’s life, and God shares in ours. God is not “watching us from a distance”, as the famous Bette Midler song says. Instead, God is closer to us than the air we breathe. We may not always be aware of it, but Jesus reminds us of it in this passage. Not only is there an intimate relationship between the persons of the Trinity but the
believers as well. We don’t simply imitate Jesus: we participate in this love relationship.
The more we become aware of this community of love, the more we experience and live the abundant life of God. We don’t have to wait for
life after death to unite with God. To the extent that we allow ourselves to recognise and live in that love relationship, abundant life is already available for living from this moment into eternity.
Consider how sharing in the union of the
Father and Jesus might feel.
Reflections by Annemarie Paulin-Campbell
