Lumen Christi
Eustaquio Santimano, 2010
My dear friends,
As we draw near the end of the Easter season, the lectionary turns us toward the deep prayer of Christ found in John 17. This "Priestly Prayer" opens a window into the communion of the Son with the Father, a communion that Christ desires to extend to all. In this sacred invocation, we hear the call to oneness, a unity grounded not in mere agreement, but in divine love. For those walking the Bodhisattva path in the light of the Risen Christ, this unity is the very expression of Bodhicitta, the awakened heart that holds all beings in love and compassion.
but also on behalf of those
who will believe in me through their word,
that they may all be one.
As you, Father, are in me and I am in you,
may they also be in us,
so that the world may believe
that you have sent me."
- John 17:20-21
This prayer is the heartbeat of Christ's mission: that we may all be one as He is one with the Father. This is not a unity of doctrine or outward conformity, but of indwelling love, a mutual abiding. For the Bodhisattva, who trains to cherish all beings as more precious than oneself, this echoes the realization that separateness is illusion. In both traditions, the path is toward the unification of hearts, the collapse of duality. Jesus and the Father are not two; their love is one. So too, the awakened mind sees no self and other, but rests in the shared ground of being: emptiness infused with compassion.
so that they may be one, as we are one,
I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one,
so that the world may know that you have sent me
and have loved them even as you have loved me."
- John 17:22-23
Here we see that divine glory is not reserved but shared. To live in Christ is to radiate the light of the Risen One, which is none other than the pure radiance of bodhicitta—limitless compassion made manifest. This is the glory Christ imparts: not worldly honor, but the transformative power of love that heals division. The "complete oneness" Jesus speaks of is the fruit of spiritual maturity, of ego transcended. As Jesus abides in the Father, so we too are invited to abide in this inseparable love, becoming signs to the world that the divine is real, present, and as near as your heartbeat.
may be with me where I am, to see my glory,
which you have given me because you loved me
before the foundation of the world."
- John 17:24
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through him,
and without him not one thing came into being.
What has come into being in him was life,
and the life was the light of all people.
- John 1:1-2
Christ's longing is not merely for proximity but for participation, that we may behold and enter into the radiant love for which we were created. This echoes the deep aspiration of the Bodhisattva: to remain in the world, not for personal escape or liberation alone, but to bring all beings into that same light. The Word is eternal, the light shines in all, and the call is to awaken to this divine indwelling. The pre-existent Christ and the nature of mind as luminous and empty: these are not two truths, but one light seen through different lenses.
and these know that you have sent me.
I made your name known to them, and I will make it known,
so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
- John 17:25-26
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
- John 1:9-13
Though the world may not recognize the divine, the love of the Father revealed through Christ is the seed of awakening planted in every heart. This is the mystery of divine indwelling—the Holy Spirit, or bodhicitta, moving within us, calling us to become children of God. Just as the Bodhisattva sees all beings as future Buddhas, Christ sees in each person a beloved child of God, with the capacity to be reborn, not of flesh but of the Spirit. Our task is to recognize this truth in ourselves and others, to love with that same divine love that Jesus reveals and imparts.
As we approach Pentecost, let us ready our hearts to receive again the flame of the Spirit, the mind of Christ, which is none other than bodhicitta, the love of the Father poured into our hearts. Jesus's prayer invites us into the deepest communion, a participation in divine love that seeks the unity of all. In this, let us walk the path of the Bodhisattva who follows Christ: bearing the light of resurrection into every shadowed place, embodying the love that transcends death, and leading others not with force but with compassion toward the home we all may share.