The Last Supper Discourse continues with a remarkable statement by Jesus: “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do.” Jesus says it twice in this passage. (He will say it five more times in this Discourse.)
There is something very significant to notice here: The “you” is plural. In other words, Jesus is talking about his disciples (including future disciples) praying as a group – a believing, worshiping community.
Rabbis taught that when two or more believing Jews sat together to talk about the Law, the divine presence was with them. Jesus reworks that thought to say that when his disciples pray in his name, he is with them.
This has major implications for among other things, our celebration of the Eucharist. The rituals, Scripture readings, prayers, music, aren’t provided so that each of us as individuals can become absorbed in our own private prayer. There is a time and a place for that. But there is special power in a praying community, because Jesus is especially present in such a community.
This is an awareness we need to recover – a sense of the Lord present among us as a connected group, and a sense of the power of such prayer.
At Mass this evening or tomorrow, try to experience the presence and power of the Risen Lord in the entire assembly.
Before the Civil War started, the territory that was to become West Virginia was part of Virginia (a Confederate state.) By the time the war ended, West Virginia had become its own state and was part of the Union. Thus, the soldiers who returned home to West Virginia at the end of the war were from both sides, and there was great tension.
Anna Jarvis, who lost four of her children in the Civil War, organized a Mother’s Friendship Day in Prunytown, West Virginia, to bring peacefully together soldiers and neighbors of all political beliefs. It was a success.
A strong supporter of establishing a national Mother’s Day for peace was Julia Ward How, who had written the words to the ”Battle Hymn of the Republic.
She learned of Mrs. Jarvis’ efforts and worked to get formal recognition of a national Mother’s Day for Peace. She had seen up close the results of the war her song had glorified – maimed soldiers, disease, widows, orphans – and she was determined that women would join together to celebrate a day dedicated to the end of all war. She was unsuccessful, and died in 1910.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution designating May 8 as the first Mother’s Day. It made no reference to the theme of peace.