In Our Falling.

Two years ago, I felt incurably alone. Having burned out of a doctoral program in theology, the pursuit of which had guided my decisions for a full decade, I was at a total loss— petrified for my future and lacking any sort of road map for action.

My journey forward was little more than a continuous falling into the hands of people, some strangers, who had compassion on me: an exquisite career counselor who took on my case pro bono; a Palestinian teenager in Bethlehem who for a day took me into his home, played pick-up basketball with me, and sent me home with a Lebron James bracelet to commemorate the moment; and an acquaintance I hadn’t spoken with in years who recommended my name for a job that got me back on my feet.

Jesus prays in today’s Gospel not only for the disciples gathered at the Last Supper but for all whose understanding of God would depend on the loving care and compassion of those first followers. As Jesus returns to the arms of his Dad, whose love in that dark hour was his only shelter, he knows he must go away from his earthly friends—there is the mystery of the Ascension—so they could similarly entrust themselves to each other. Only in this precise way could they “all be one.” Only thus could they enter into the bond of love between Father and Son. And only thus could the world know whose glory shines resplendent in all this falling, trusting and mercy-giving.

Justin Bartkus. Taken from Give Us This Day.

Justin Bartkus is an aspiring human-centered designer enrolled in graduate studies at the Institute of Design in Chicago. He also holds a master’s degree in theological studies from the University of Notre Dame.