May 17, 2026 • 17 mins
JESUS INVITES US TO LIVE THE LIFE OF PRAYER AND LOVE
JOIN OUR CATHOLIC EVANGELISM MINISTRY....WWW.FRIENDSOFTHEWORD.ORG
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:37):
Lord be with you.
A reading from the Holy Gospelaccording to John.
Jesus raised his eyes to heavenand said, Father, the hour has
come.
Give glory to your Son so thatyour Son may glorify you, just
(00:58):
as you gave him authority overall people, so that your Son may
have eternal life to all yougave him.
Now this is eternal life, thatthey should know you, the only
true God, and the one whom yousent, Jesus Christ.
(01:20):
I glorified you on earth byaccomplishing the work that you
gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with theglory that I had with you before
the world began.
I revealed your name to thoseyou gave me out of this world.
(01:41):
They belong to you and you gavethem to me, and they have kept
your word.
Now they know that everythingyou gave me is from you, because
the words you gave me I havegiven to them, and they accepted
them and truly understood that Icame from you, and they believed
(02:04):
that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world, butfor the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, andeverything is mine is yours, and
everything of yours is mine, andI have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be inthe world, but they are in the
(02:30):
world while I am coming to you.
The gospel of the Lord JesusChrist.
Some of that reflection of Jesuscomes from the Last Supper, and
(02:54):
it's part of the long prayer wecall the priestly prayer at the
Last Supper.
We believe John was present forthat, the author of this gospel.
He is the one, supposedly, thatrested near Jesus.
And as they all sat around thetable, you know, in Roman style
(03:16):
or Hebrew style, they leaned ontheir arm or their elbow as they
ate.
And he, John, was able to puthis head on the chest of Jesus.
Makes a lot of sense if you knowhow they were sitting.
And he describes himself as theone whom Jesus loved.
(03:42):
I'm giving you that littleinsight because this reading
comes from the heart of Jesus.
This reading reflects who Jesusas God is, how close he is to
the Father, and as a matter offact, as he said before, one
(04:04):
with the Father.
And if Jesus is one with theFather, then his words are
authentic and true, and hiswords are for us to know that he
came to us so that we can be onewith him, Jesus, and also one
(04:24):
with the Father.
It's a little poetic, it's alittle repetitive the way he
says it tonight.
I say tonight because this wasthe Last Supper.
But the heart of it is God,Jesus are one.
And as he himself says, eternallife is knowing God.
(04:52):
I don't care what you thinkabout eternal life, what your
imaginations are, what you wereraised with as a child, you
know, heaven and all thesewonderful promises of heaven.
I've never been there.
I will be there someday, I hope.
And you will too, I hope.
But eternal life is knowing God.
(05:17):
So you've already startedeternal life.
All of us have.
From the moment of our baptisms,confirmations, and the other
sacraments we may have received,we share eternal life.
Right here and now, right herein Manhattan, we're living
eternal life.
(05:37):
And I guess it's up to us eachday, and us to use of the
scriptures each day, toappropriate that, to make that
understood and normal for useach day.
What is eternal life?
And Jesus makes it very clear.
Knowing God.
(05:59):
And in my field, I run into alot of people.
Well, I know God, but um, Idon't go to church.
Okay.
I find God on the beach.
Okay.
I find God in the mountains, andwhen I go out into the forest,
okay.
You know a semblance of God, ifthat's your philosophy.
(06:23):
You know the means of getting toGod, but that's only the
beginning of the track.
Jesus makes it very clear: eternal life is knowing God. (06:30):
undefined
How do you know God?
Through prayer.
Prayer is the dialogue we havewith God.
Prayer is God's love language tous.
Jesus has given us a long loveletter today in the gospel.
(06:56):
Speaking to God about himself,speaking to God about his goals,
to pass God's word on to hisfriends, telling God how
appreciative he is of God, andhow he depends on God, and how
he is expecting to be glorifiedby God.
Now, this could be your prayerand my prayer.
(07:19):
There was a piece on the newsthis morning about how difficult
it is for college graduates inthis area, New York, probably
the whole nation, to find jobs.
And they've a lot of them havegone to other positions that
(07:41):
they were than they were trainedfor.
To get to that point, we need topray.
We need to pray that we're notalone.
And I'm talking about thecollege grads.
They're not alone.
And to know that God is withthem because of the promise of
(08:03):
Jesus Christ, saying that hewill be with us always, and if
he's with us, God's with us.
But we got to know him.
How do we know him?
Prayer.
Speaking to God.
We come to church, we have allthe written prayers we can
imagine.
Good.
(08:24):
It's a good way to start.
Following the words of anothersaint, following the words of
another author.
But the best way to start, thelanguage of love, is from your
heart.
As you would for those you lovein your life, you don't read a
(08:45):
card to them to tell them howmuch you love them.
Some people do give in to that.
And for 25 cents, the message isover.
But I'm suggesting that we,imitating Jesus, speak to God
from our hearts.
He reads them, he knows them.
But he wants us to make theconnection.
(09:07):
And prayer is the language ofeternal life.
Because you're not praying outinto the dust.
When we pray, we focus on whowe're praying to.
And that's God, as revealed inJesus, Holy Spirit, and the
(09:30):
Father.
Daily prayer, speaking to Godfrom our hearts.
I was at a party last night withfriends, and they're, you know,
struggling with getting the kidsto church, and they're
struggling with going to church.
Start it at home.
Start your prayer at home.
(09:51):
Coming to church is like thecherry on top.
Coming to church gives us theEucharist, gives us the gospel,
gives us camaraderie andfellowship with each other.
Struggling starts in the heart.
And the language of love, thelanguage of prayer, brings our
(10:15):
heart and God's heart together.
And metaphorically, God has noheart as biologically.
Jesus did as a man and stilldoes as a glorified second
person of the Blessed Trinity.
But heart to heart is eternallanguage.
You wouldn't speak nonsense to aperson you say you love or
(10:40):
engaged with or a parent.
No, we speak heart to heart, asJesus is speaking to his Father
in this gospel.
Heart to heart, revealingeverything, laying it all out.
And we come to church to receivethe Eucharist, which is the body
of Christ, it's the summit ofour prayer that we actually are
(11:05):
connecting to Jesus and hisFather and the Holy Spirit.
Speaking to the beloved daily.
Some of us can't, some of us,our beloved might be deceased,
our beloved might be in anothercountry, another state.
But we have, thank God, we havethe technology to FaceTime them
(11:28):
and speak that way if they're ata long distance.
But you know, and as I know,it's not the same as being there
in the same space as thebeloved.
Jesus is available to uswherever we are.
(11:49):
Not by Facebook, not bytechnology, not by TikTok.
Right there where we are, Jesusis there.
You can speak to him right now.
And he reads our hearts.
And prayer is the language oflove.
Prayer is the language of God.
(12:11):
Prayer is the eternal language.
Yes, we have the celebrations ofall the Sundays of Easter,
today's being the seventhSunday.
But we can't depend on thecalendar for our prayer.
We need to depend on ourselvesand our connection to Jesus in
(12:35):
our prayer.
Some of us might be embarrassedif we say Jesus reads our
hearts.
He knows what's on our minds allthe time.
You might say, oh my goodness.
Really?
Yeah.
He's your vade makeum.
There's a Latin phrase, go withme.
(12:58):
He's always with you.
He promised that.
He conquered death to prove tous that death is not going to
hold him down.
He ascended to the Father, andhe proves to us that although
I'm gone, I'm with you.
(13:19):
And next week, as a calendarcelebration, we will commemorate
that event when the Holy Spiritcomes upon the church.
That's his way of sending hisspirit to us.
Boy, if we were communicating onFaceTime or one of those
platforms to someone we love ata long distance, wouldn't you
(13:40):
like to reach through and touchhim or her?
Reach through and hold eachother's hand as you're saying
words of love.
Here, now in this life, you dohave that opportunity, but
sometimes we don't.
With God, we do always.
He hears us.
(14:01):
He holds us in the palm of hishands.
The church in the scripturesreveals like a format, like a
map on what the early churchdid.
Well, we read in Acts of theApostles, they gathered in
(14:21):
prayer.
This section of the Acts of theApostles tells us after Jesus
ascended, we believe that waslike Mount Tabor, they walked
back to Jerusalem and theygathered in prayer in what we
call the upper room, which iswhere they had the Last Supper.
It was a spacious room.
And they prayed.
(14:42):
And they waited for Jesus'return.
And we are still waiting for hisphysical and glorious return.
But in the meantime, we'reconnected to him through prayer.
That's the early church did.
That's our mandate.
And you'll hear next week,continuing that Acts of the
(15:07):
Apostles, and the Holy Spiritcame to them.
They didn't go into theirclosets and they didn't go into
their rooms and they didn't seekshelter.
They opened the doors and wentout to preach Jesus alive.
That's our message.
They sent that message to us.
Jesus alive.
(15:28):
That you and I can speak tothrough prayer.
And when we pray, we're waitingfor his return in glory.
But when we pray, we're alsoasking him to give us the
strength to deal with today, todeal with the lack of
employment, to deal with mybroken relationship, to deal
(15:51):
with my new relationship, todeal with my parents, to deal
with all the circumstances ofthe world.
We have the ability to bring thepower and blessing of Jesus into
our lives and share it with eachother.
And you don't all have to do itfrom here, from the pulpit.
(16:13):
Some of us have to do it in thebar, some of us have to do it
with music, some of us have todo it when we're dancing, some
of us have to do it when we'recrying, some of us have to do it
in class.
Doesn't matter.
Whenever I talk to Jesus, helistens to me.
That's our goal.
Seventh Sunday of Easter, okay,it's nice that we commemorate it
(16:35):
historically.
But it reminds us that Jesusnever left.
He broke the thing thatseparates people eternally.
Death destroyed it.
So when you and I speak toJesus, we are speaking the
language of eternal life.
(16:57):
He said, I revealed your name tothose you gave me in the world.
They belong to you.
You gave them to me.
And now we are to keep his word.
Trust him.
Pray every day.
Lord be with you.
A reading from the Holy Gospelaccording to John.
Jesus raised his eyes to heavenand said, Father, the hour has
come.
Give glory to your Son so thatyour Son may glorify you, just
(00:58):
as you gave him authority overall people, so that your Son may
have eternal life to all yougave him.
Now this is eternal life, thatthey should know you, the only
true God, and the one whom yousent, Jesus Christ.
(01:20):
I glorified you on earth byaccomplishing the work that you
gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with theglory that I had with you before
the world began.
I revealed your name to thoseyou gave me out of this world.
(01:41):
They belong to you and you gavethem to me, and they have kept
your word.
Now they know that everythingyou gave me is from you, because
the words you gave me I havegiven to them, and they accepted
them and truly understood that Icame from you, and they believed
(02:04):
that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world, butfor the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, andeverything is mine is yours, and
everything of yours is mine, andI have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be inthe world, but they are in the
(02:30):
world while I am coming to you.
The gospel of the Lord JesusChrist.
Some of that reflection of Jesuscomes from the Last Supper, and
(02:54):
it's part of the long prayer wecall the priestly prayer at the
Last Supper.
We believe John was present forthat, the author of this gospel.
He is the one, supposedly, thatrested near Jesus.
And as they all sat around thetable, you know, in Roman style
(03:16):
or Hebrew style, they leaned ontheir arm or their elbow as they
ate.
And he, John, was able to puthis head on the chest of Jesus.
Makes a lot of sense if you knowhow they were sitting.
And he describes himself as theone whom Jesus loved.
(03:42):
I'm giving you that littleinsight because this reading
comes from the heart of Jesus.
This reading reflects who Jesusas God is, how close he is to
the Father, and as a matter offact, as he said before, one
(04:04):
with the Father.
And if Jesus is one with theFather, then his words are
authentic and true, and hiswords are for us to know that he
came to us so that we can be onewith him, Jesus, and also one
(04:24):
with the Father.
It's a little poetic, it's alittle repetitive the way he
says it tonight.
I say tonight because this wasthe Last Supper.
But the heart of it is God,Jesus are one.
And as he himself says, eternallife is knowing God.
(04:52):
I don't care what you thinkabout eternal life, what your
imaginations are, what you wereraised with as a child, you
know, heaven and all thesewonderful promises of heaven.
I've never been there.
I will be there someday, I hope.
And you will too, I hope.
But eternal life is knowing God.
(05:17):
So you've already startedeternal life.
All of us have.
From the moment of our baptisms,confirmations, and the other
sacraments we may have received,we share eternal life.
Right here and now, right herein Manhattan, we're living
eternal life.
(05:37):
And I guess it's up to us eachday, and us to use of the
scriptures each day, toappropriate that, to make that
understood and normal for useach day.
What is eternal life?
And Jesus makes it very clear.
Knowing God.
(05:59):
And in my field, I run into alot of people.
Well, I know God, but um, Idon't go to church.
Okay.
I find God on the beach.
Okay.
I find God in the mountains, andwhen I go out into the forest,
okay.
You know a semblance of God, ifthat's your philosophy.
(06:23):
You know the means of getting toGod, but that's only the
beginning of the track.
Jesus makes it very clear: eternal life is knowing God. (06:30):
undefined
How do you know God?
Through prayer.
Prayer is the dialogue we havewith God.
Prayer is God's love language tous.
Jesus has given us a long loveletter today in the gospel.
(06:56):
Speaking to God about himself,speaking to God about his goals,
to pass God's word on to hisfriends, telling God how
appreciative he is of God, andhow he depends on God, and how
he is expecting to be glorifiedby God.
Now, this could be your prayerand my prayer.
(07:19):
There was a piece on the newsthis morning about how difficult
it is for college graduates inthis area, New York, probably
the whole nation, to find jobs.
And they've a lot of them havegone to other positions that
(07:41):
they were than they were trainedfor.
To get to that point, we need topray.
We need to pray that we're notalone.
And I'm talking about thecollege grads.
They're not alone.
And to know that God is withthem because of the promise of
(08:03):
Jesus Christ, saying that hewill be with us always, and if
he's with us, God's with us.
But we got to know him.
How do we know him?
Prayer.
Speaking to God.
We come to church, we have allthe written prayers we can
imagine.
Good.
(08:24):
It's a good way to start.
Following the words of anothersaint, following the words of
another author.
But the best way to start, thelanguage of love, is from your
heart.
As you would for those you lovein your life, you don't read a
(08:45):
card to them to tell them howmuch you love them.
Some people do give in to that.
And for 25 cents, the message isover.
But I'm suggesting that we,imitating Jesus, speak to God
from our hearts.
He reads them, he knows them.
But he wants us to make theconnection.
(09:07):
And prayer is the language ofeternal life.
Because you're not praying outinto the dust.
When we pray, we focus on whowe're praying to.
And that's God, as revealed inJesus, Holy Spirit, and the
(09:30):
Father.
Daily prayer, speaking to Godfrom our hearts.
I was at a party last night withfriends, and they're, you know,
struggling with getting the kidsto church, and they're
struggling with going to church.
Start it at home.
Start your prayer at home.
(09:51):
Coming to church is like thecherry on top.
Coming to church gives us theEucharist, gives us the gospel,
gives us camaraderie andfellowship with each other.
Struggling starts in the heart.
And the language of love, thelanguage of prayer, brings our
(10:15):
heart and God's heart together.
And metaphorically, God has noheart as biologically.
Jesus did as a man and stilldoes as a glorified second
person of the Blessed Trinity.
But heart to heart is eternallanguage.
You wouldn't speak nonsense to aperson you say you love or
(10:40):
engaged with or a parent.
No, we speak heart to heart, asJesus is speaking to his Father
in this gospel.
Heart to heart, revealingeverything, laying it all out.
And we come to church to receivethe Eucharist, which is the body
of Christ, it's the summit ofour prayer that we actually are
(11:05):
connecting to Jesus and hisFather and the Holy Spirit.
Speaking to the beloved daily.
Some of us can't, some of us,our beloved might be deceased,
our beloved might be in anothercountry, another state.
But we have, thank God, we havethe technology to FaceTime them
(11:28):
and speak that way if they're ata long distance.
But you know, and as I know,it's not the same as being there
in the same space as thebeloved.
Jesus is available to uswherever we are.
(11:49):
Not by Facebook, not bytechnology, not by TikTok.
Right there where we are, Jesusis there.
You can speak to him right now.
And he reads our hearts.
And prayer is the language oflove.
Prayer is the language of God.
(12:11):
Prayer is the eternal language.
Yes, we have the celebrations ofall the Sundays of Easter,
today's being the seventhSunday.
But we can't depend on thecalendar for our prayer.
We need to depend on ourselvesand our connection to Jesus in
(12:35):
our prayer.
Some of us might be embarrassedif we say Jesus reads our
hearts.
He knows what's on our minds allthe time.
You might say, oh my goodness.
Really?
Yeah.
He's your vade makeum.
There's a Latin phrase, go withme.
(12:58):
He's always with you.
He promised that.
He conquered death to prove tous that death is not going to
hold him down.
He ascended to the Father, andhe proves to us that although
I'm gone, I'm with you.
(13:19):
And next week, as a calendarcelebration, we will commemorate
that event when the Holy Spiritcomes upon the church.
That's his way of sending hisspirit to us.
Boy, if we were communicating onFaceTime or one of those
platforms to someone we love ata long distance, wouldn't you
(13:40):
like to reach through and touchhim or her?
Reach through and hold eachother's hand as you're saying
words of love.
Here, now in this life, you dohave that opportunity, but
sometimes we don't.
With God, we do always.
He hears us.
(14:01):
He holds us in the palm of hishands.
The church in the scripturesreveals like a format, like a
map on what the early churchdid.
Well, we read in Acts of theApostles, they gathered in
(14:21):
prayer.
This section of the Acts of theApostles tells us after Jesus
ascended, we believe that waslike Mount Tabor, they walked
back to Jerusalem and theygathered in prayer in what we
call the upper room, which iswhere they had the Last Supper.
It was a spacious room.
And they prayed.
(14:42):
And they waited for Jesus'return.
And we are still waiting for hisphysical and glorious return.
But in the meantime, we'reconnected to him through prayer.
That's the early church did.
That's our mandate.
And you'll hear next week,continuing that Acts of the
(15:07):
Apostles, and the Holy Spiritcame to them.
They didn't go into theirclosets and they didn't go into
their rooms and they didn't seekshelter.
They opened the doors and wentout to preach Jesus alive.
That's our message.
They sent that message to us.
Jesus alive.
(15:28):
That you and I can speak tothrough prayer.
And when we pray, we're waitingfor his return in glory.
But when we pray, we're alsoasking him to give us the
strength to deal with today, todeal with the lack of
employment, to deal with mybroken relationship, to deal
(15:51):
with my new relationship, todeal with my parents, to deal
with all the circumstances ofthe world.
We have the ability to bring thepower and blessing of Jesus into
our lives and share it with eachother.
And you don't all have to do itfrom here, from the pulpit.
(16:13):
Some of us have to do it in thebar, some of us have to do it
with music, some of us have todo it when we're dancing, some
of us have to do it when we'recrying, some of us have to do it
in class.
Doesn't matter.
Whenever I talk to Jesus, helistens to me.
That's our goal.
Seventh Sunday of Easter, okay,it's nice that we commemorate it
(16:35):
historically.
But it reminds us that Jesusnever left.
He broke the thing thatseparates people eternally.
Death destroyed it.
So when you and I speak toJesus, we are speaking the
language of eternal life.
(16:57):
He said, I revealed your name tothose you gave me in the world.
They belong to you.
You gave them to me.
And now we are to keep his word.
Trust him.
Pray every day.
Popular Podcasts
Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb
Joy is essential. And it's also elusive. You can't order it, borrow it, or simply hope it into life. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence: The Joy 101 Podcast with Hoda! Best known for her Emmy-winning work and co-anchoring Today, Hoda Kotb infuses her authenticity, curiosity, and warmth into conversations with the world’s most fascinating people. Entertainment legends, sport icons, wellness experts, and everyday folks will share how they find, allow, and experience joy. Hoda will offer her own tips and takes on seeking a more balanced, harmonious life. If you're craving inspiration, support, and useful tools to maximize your joy, tune in to these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Joy after a breakup, joy as an empty-nester, joy after loss, joy as a caretaker — Hoda's new podcast will speak to you. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb, an iHeartPodcast.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com