Memorial of Saint Justin, Martyr
Today’s Gospel presents us with the first part of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer,” offered for his disciples as he prepared to go to the Cross. This pastoral prayer was not intended only for Jesus’ immediate followers, but for all disciples throughout time. I invite us to enter into today’s Gospel as if Jesus is praying for us personally, literally face to face. In today’s first reading from Acts, I see an invitation for us to pray for our priests. Let’s seek the Lord together, receiving his intentions for us and lifting up those who shepherd us.
You can’t go wrong praying God’s Word. We can be confident that God hears and answers when we pray the Word back to God. I invite you to personalize Jesus’ prayer in John 17. We have part of it today; we’ll receive the remainder of it tomorrow. As you pray, change the personal pronouns so that you can address Jesus intimately and personally, and you can simply change “them” to “us” throughout. You might pray something like this: “Lord Jesus, I thank you for your petitions and join you in your prayer that you offered to our Heavenly Father for me and all your disciples . . .” and then proceed with praying John 17 and making it personal. Let’s pray it for our families, our Family of Parishes, and the Church. There is power in praying God’s Word – let’s pray it with boldness and confidence! As you pray, you might do so through Lectio Divina, allowing specific words or phrases that jump out at you to inform your prayer in whatever way the Spirit leads.
In our first reading, we find St Paul speaking to the presbyters at Ephesus in a very intimate farewell address. The presbyters were leaders in the early Church who exercised priestly functions prior to the establishment of the formal priesthood. This text forms a powerful prayer that we can offer for our priests. Let’s personalize Paul’s words in prayer for Father Satish and all the priests in our Archdiocese and throughout the Church. Let’s be particularly mindful of the newly ordained. Let’s be fervent and bold in our prayer for all our pastors.
Today is the Feast of St Justin, Martyr. He was one of the first and most important apologists for the faith and for the truth of the Gospel of Christ. A few verses from today’s readings jump out at me as opportunities to seek his intercession as a faithful apologist. For our priests, let’s ask St Justin’s intercession, along with St Paul’s, in the opening exhortation to the presbyters in Ephesus. Let’s ask them to intercede for Christ’s protection from the “savage wolves” and the evil one, that our priests always maintain a commitment to the Truth, and that they are vigilant in their vocation. May they always be “good and holy priests” as Archbishop Schnurr’s prayer for vocations states. For us – for our families, our Parishes, our Church, let’s ask St Justin’s intercession (from the Gospel text) that Christ protects us from the evil one, that we might be consecrated in the Truth, and that we might be sent into the world as witnesses to that Truth.
May we each experience peace, hope, and joy as we pray God’s Word together as Easter people excitedly anticipating Pentecost and seeking a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Amen, alleluia!
Elizabeth Wells