***
Gospel: John 17: 1-11
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,
“Father, the hour has come.
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people,
so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with you,
with the glory that I had with you before the world began.
“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,
because the words you gave to me I have given to them,
and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,
and they have believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be in the world,
but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
***
One of the most popular Catholic Saints is Francis of Assisi. He had a unique love of nature, a kindred spirit, and he received a call from God that would define his life, “Rebuild my Church.”
Tradition tells us that Francis literally stripped himself bare before his bishop in the public square to demonstrate how serious he was about leaving a life of inherited wealth and privilege behind.
Perhaps his greatest contribution to the Church was founding a religious movement known as the Franciscans, an order of both men and women who pledge a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience to the Lord and his Church.
The Franciscans have been doing God’s work in this world for the last 800 years.
While lying on his deathbed at the tender age of 45, Saint Francis was surrounded by the men who became the first Franciscans. And he said to them, “My brothers, I have done what was mine to do. Now you must do what is yours to do.”
***
In today’s Gospel, we continue with Jesus’ farewell discourse in which he not only prepares his disciples for his departure, but he also prays to his Father in gratitude. “Father, I glorified you on earth by accomplishing everything that you gave me to do.”
That’s something perhaps we all hope to say when our time comes – we have accomplished everything that God has given us to do.
Like Jesus and Francis, how do we know what is “ours” to do in life? And when will we know we’ve done it all?
***
Perhaps it’s not a question we can answer in terms of marking off a checklist. Rather, it’s a matter of the heart, a question we might answer at the end of each day.
Perhaps we can ask ourselves, “Have I come to faith? Have I loved God with all of my heart and my neighbor as myself? Do I bear any unresolved tension in my heart or am I at peace?”
That, I believe, is the mark of a life well prepared for the next – a soul at peace. May God give us the grace to do what is “ours” to do today.
Above all, to be a soul at peace.
***
***
Image credits: (1) Saint Jerome, QuoteFancy (2) Francis of Assisi, Philip Fruytiers (3) Third Heaven Discourse, Blogspot