Easter Week 6: Friday (after the Ascension)

“On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you” (John 16:23)

Origen of Alexandria comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

”And so, when the saints give thanks to God in their prayers, they acknowledge through Christ Jesus the favors he has done. And if it is true that one who is scrupulous about prayer ought not to pray to someone else who prays but rather to the Father whom our Lord Jesus taught us to address in prayers, it is especially true that no prayer should be addressed to the Father without him, who clearly points this out himself when he says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. Up till now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Now he did not say “ask me” or simply “ask the Father.” On the contrary, he said, “If you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name.” For until Jesus taught this, no one asked the Father in the name of the Son. And what Jesus said was true, “Up till now you have asked nothing in my name.” And also true was his saying, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (On Prayer, 15)




O God, who restore us to eternal life
in the Resurrection of Christ,
raise us up, we pray, to the author of our salvation,
who is seated at your right hand,
so that, when our Savior comes again in majesty,
those you have given new birth in Baptism
may be clothed with blessed immortality.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.



The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!