Junior School Reflection | John 17: 1 - 11, 7th Tuesday of Easter, 2026, Year B
Note: reflection posted thirty-five days prior the liturgical day.
Who likes to watch football? Okay, many of you but not everyone. Who likes to go to the cinema? Almost everybody.
When we watch football or go
to the cinema, do we distract ourselves by playing with a phone or talking
during the important parts? No, because if we do, we miss things. To watch
properly, you have to be attentive to what is happening. You don’t just “be in
a room;” you are really watching.
Prayer is like that.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus does
something very simple and very important: “When Jesus had spoken these words,
he raised his eyes to heaven and said: ‘Father…’” St Thomas Aquinas explains that there is a
difference between our prayer and Jesus’ prayer. Our prayer usually arises from
a place of need, while Christ’s prayer is more for our instruction, because
there was no need for him to pray for himself in the way we do. Jesus is the
Son, and in union with the Father, he is heard. So when Jesus prays, he is
teaching us how to pray.
What is Jesus instructing us
here?
Jesus’ prayer shows that our
words should follow our actions. Prayer includes attention, reverence and
turning towards God, just as Jesus did when he lifted his eyes to heaven.
When we give God our attention,
we show him reverence; we show him the respect he deserves. God has given us life,
good experiences, and the chance to be loved. We might have bad days and feel
down sometimes or even get hurt, but God is with us even when life is hard.
Because God has given us these good things and the joy that comes from being loved,
we give God the reverence he deserves, and we do this by being attentive in
prayer.
It’s the same in the classroom.
We owe our teachers a similar kind of respect that comes with attentive
listening just as we give God our reverent attention. When you give teachers your undivided
attention, you show them reverence; we are not worshipping them but instead
showing them the respect and honour they deserve. Like God, our teachers respond
to your needs; they know that a good education will help you to learn and grow.
They teach you to build your vocabulary, put words into sentence structures,
and then help you write essays as you progress through each stage. All this is
good stuff for flourishing. So, it pays to give your teachers your undivided attention
just like Jesus did in his prayer to the Father.
Can we conclude that this
passage is only about attention and focus? Not at all.
After Jesus shows us how to
pray with attention, he teaches us that prayer is also a relationship. He calls
God “Father.” Prayer is not a shout into the darkness. This reminds us again of praying like Jesus did: simply and from the heart. It’s talking to someone
who loves you. We learn this because when we call someone “father” or “mother,”
we know they try their best to love us. In the same way, God is someone we can
speak to, someone who loves you and cares about you. God is not far away from
you.
Lastly, Jesus shows us that we
pray with a purpose.
Prayer is not an act where we
fill the silence; all of a sudden, the film has finished, the game is over, we
don’t fill that void with something else to do. We pray for important things in
prayer. It’s not always please, please, please, please. Sometimes prayer is
about trusting in God’s plans, and asking for what is good. In John 17:1-5,
Jesus asked his Father to glorify him. What does this mean to us? It means to
let his own actions shine in the world so that others might see the works of
the Father through him. We should also learn to ask for this kind of
glorification too. We need to ask God to help our actions shine so that others
may recognise the works of the Father. Jesus also prays for other people and
not only for himself, so we learn intercession. It is good to pray for others;
while we are here praying, many people do not pray at all. This means they may
not even pray for themselves, so we pray for their peace and wellbeing.
So this week, lift up your eyes to heaven and pray for someone. But remember prayer is: to God the Father, with focused attention, with trust, and love for everyone around you.
FURTHER READING
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