“Always”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
May 16 – 17, 2026
Gospel: John 17:1-11
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1 After saying this, Jesus raised His eyes to Heaven and said: Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son so that Your Son may glorify You;
2 so that, just as You have given Him power over all humanity, He may give eternal life to all those You have entrusted to Him.
3 And eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
4 I have glorified You on earth by finishing the work that You gave me to do.
5 Now, Father, glorify Me with that glory I had with You before ever the world existed.
6 I have revealed Your name to those whom You took from the world to give Me. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
7 Now at last they have recognized that all You have given Me comes from You
8 for I have given them the teaching You gave to Me, and they have indeed accepted it and know for certain that I came from You, and have believed that it was You who sent Me.
9 It is for them that I pray. I am not praying for the world but for those You have given Me, because they belong to You.
10 All I have is Yours and all You have is Mine, and in them I am glorified.
11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep those You have given Me true to Your name, so that they may be one like Us.
Today, we observe the solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord into Heaven. Now, since all of you are brighter than the average bear, I’m going to give you a pop quiz: What was the last thing the Apostles saw of Jesus? His hands. What did Jesus bring to Heaven in His hands? The marks of the nails. The marks of our Lord’s love. The human nature He took from the Blessed Mother was assumed into a divine person. It is the human nature through which He taught, the human nature through which He healed, the human nature through which He suffered and died, and the human nature through which He rose again that has gone to Heaven. The marks of His great love for us are always before the Father pleading for us. Always. The sixth sentence He spoke from the Cross was, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. He is always pleading for us. Always.
How will you apply this message to your life? _________________________________________
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