You Are Held

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Easter Feria

Today's Readings:
[ Acts 20:28-38; Ps 68:28-36; Jn 17:11b-19 ]

In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays to the Father for his disciples: “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one”. It is an intimate prayer, spoken not to the crowds but from the heart of Christ before his passion. Jesus knows the road ahead will be difficult. The disciples will face confusion, suffering, and temptation. Yet his concern is not that they escape hardship, but that they remain faithful within it.

Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts carries a similar tenderness. He warns them that challenges will come and entrusts them “to God and to the message of his grace”. He reminds them that ministry is not about power or profit, but self-giving love: “It is more blessed to give than to receive”.

From a Franciscan perspective, these readings invite us to consider what it means to be kept holy in the world without belonging to the world. St. Francis never fled creation or human struggle; rather, he sought to live simply and truthfully within them. Holiness, for Francis, was not separation from ordinary life but seeing all things through the love of Christ. We are called not to harden ourselves against the world’s troubles, but to walk through them with open hands and open hearts.

The Psalm declares, “Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth”. Even amid grief, uncertainty, or conflict, praise remains possible because God has not abandoned us. Christ still prays for us. That is perhaps one of the most comforting truths in all of Scripture: before we ever falter, before fear overtakes us, Jesus has already held us in prayer.

Today, perhaps the invitation is to trust that you are being held. In joy or weariness, in certainty or doubt, Christ’s prayer surrounds you still. And if we are held in love, we are free to become people who give love freely in return.

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