The Father Loves You Because You Loved Me

Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

John 16:23-28

“On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

Opening Prayer: Dear Father, I thank you for the gift of this day and for the gift of this time together. As I place myself in your presence I cast my distractions and anxieties on you who make all things new. Show me the way to true joy as I enter into dialogue with your son, Jesus.

Encountering Christ:

1. The Weight of Your Name: There can be great weight to a name. Some charities are built on the name of one person who suffered a difficult or untimely death, and because they made such an impression on people’s hearts the charities thrive. But, as scripture tells us, when we pray the name “Jesus,” it’s especially powerful—infinitely so: “because…God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).
2. Complete Joy: Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he wants our joy to be complete. No one on earth can make our joy complete, despite how much they love us. Only the Father can fulfill this promise. What does it mean to have complete joy in this world? Joy a gift of God, is “nourished by a life of prayer, mediation on the word of God, the celebration of the sacraments, and life in community.” – Pope Francis
3. The Hour Is Coming: Jesus was leaving to join the Father. When the Advocate came, the apostles were to pray in Jesus’s name directly to the Father, because the Father is love. Jesus’s whole mission was to reveal the love that the Father has for each of us. In knowing the Father our joy will be complete. 

Conversing with Christ: Loving and humble Jesus, help me to know my heavenly Father so that my joy may be complete. This prayer is the deepest longing of my heart that only you can fulfill.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I resolve to spend five minutes in the presence of my heavenly Father, where I will ask him to show me the many ways he loves me.

For Further Reflection: Visit Lighthouse Catholic Media to discover THIS LIST of books written about God the Father.

Written by Marjorie Davin