~~~ Acts 18: 23-28 ~~~ Psalm 47 ~~~ John 16: 23b-28 ~~~
"Until now you have not asked anything in my name;
ask and you will receive,
so that your joy may be complete."
Jesus is affirming the strong connection between himself and the Father.
Jesus is giving us permission to come to him in prayer with our needs.
Jesus wants us to believe that he is not the only one who loves us, that indeed the Father loves us as well. I think Jesus was trying to say no matter what image you may have come to believe about the Father...he too is love.
The Father is not the God of the Old Testament who destroys and sends plagues. No the Father loves each of us...he sent down his Son to be with us.
The Father sent his Son as a visible tangible sign of his love.
Today our country sends out diplomats to foreign countries way ahead of the President's traveling there. God sent his prophets ahead of to prepare the way, for the coming of his Son.
Jesus is encouraging us to believe that our prayers are heard by the Father
even as they come through the Son. Since the Father and the Son are one
our prayers are always heard by both.
It is easy to understand that a son, having a wonderful father,
would want others to love him and see him in the same light.
Who is God to you?
Who do you pray to; God the Father or God the Son, Jesus?
I must say I do usually pray to Jesus. It is easier, for me at least, to visualize talking with Jesus. It seems more natural to enter into a story from the Gospel and walk with Jesus and the apostles.
Prayer is about developing a relationship whether with God the Father or Jesus.
They are one and very soon we will draw attention to the third person of the Trinity; the awesome Holy Spirit.
This Kaleidoscope image reminds me of the Trinity.
The center symbolizing the Eucharist to me...the ultimate tangible concrete
reality of the unity of the Trinity.
"...the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me
and have come to believe that I came from God"
We have come to believe!
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