Eternal Life: Knowing You
“For the Souls in Purgatory – Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord”
John 17:3
Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
Grace Prayed For
Lord, let our knowing of you deepen this week — not merely knowing about you, but the intimate, transforming knowledge that is itself eternal life.
Reflection
Eternal life is not a future reward for present good behavior. It is a present reality that has a future dimension.
Jesus defines it with breathtaking economy: to know the Father and the Son. Not to know about them — not to possess correct information or to pass a doctrinal examination. The word ‘know’ here is the same word used throughout John for the deepest kind of intimate knowing: the knowing of father and son, of shepherd and sheep, of friend and friend.
This definition changes everything about how we understand the Christian life. If eternal life is a future state we are working toward, then the present is primarily a preparation — a moral and religious earning of what comes later. But if eternal life is the quality of relationship available now, then the whole of the present is transformed. Every prayer, every act of love, every moment of genuine encounter with God is not a deposit toward future reward — it is itself eternal life, already breaking through.
St. John of the Cross wrote that God rewards the soul in the currency of more of himself. This is exactly what Jesus is describing. The reward of knowing God is more knowing of God. The thing itself is the gift.
For those in your group who have been treating faith primarily as moral effort — trying to be good enough, to check enough boxes — this verse is liberation. The primary task is not goodness; it is knowing. And knowing begins with simple, humble, attentive relationship: with Scripture, with prayer, with the community of the Body of Christ, with the silent encounter of contemplation.
Are you growing in knowing? That is the question that matters most as we approach Pentecost.
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Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post