I in them, and you in me
The innermost union
On the night before he died, Jesus prayed for his followers, and the prayer reaches a height almost too high to take in. He asks that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you — and then, astonishingly, that they may be one in us. He prays that we would be drawn into the very oneness that he shares with the Father.
Then he says it even more directly: I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected in one. This is the innermost room of the castle, the deepest destination of the journey: not just union with Christ, but through Christ a participation in the eternal life of God himself — the Father in the Son, the Son in us, all gathered into one. The love that has flowed between Father and Son before the world began opens to include us.
This is more than the human mind can hold, and Teresa knew it; the deepest union is finally a mystery to be entered, not a concept to be mastered. But the direction is unmistakable. The journey inward does not end in a private, solitary peace. It ends in being caught up into the shared life and love of the Trinity — I in them, and you in me — a oneness whose overflow, Jesus says, is meant to spill out so that the world may know the Father sent him.
“I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me.”
— Jesus, praying for his own — John 17:23 (WEB)
Receive the staggering destination Jesus prayed for you — to be drawn through Christ into the very oneness and love the Father and Son have shared from eternity.
“That they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.”
We settle for a modest salvation — sins forgiven, heaven secured — and miss that Jesus prayed us into participation in the eternal oneness of God himself. The interior work is to let his prayer enlarge our vision of the journey's end: not a private, solitary peace, but being caught up into the shared life and love of the Trinity, a mystery to be entered rather than a concept to be mastered.
This week, pray Jesus' prayer back to God: that you would be one in the Father and the Son, drawn into their love. Dwell on being included in the oneness of God, and let it lift your sense of salvation from the modest to the magnificent.
The world has trained us to keep our hopes modest, so we are content with a small salvation — forgiven, secured, and little more — and never reach for the shared life Jesus actually prayed us into. But the love flowing between Father and Son from all eternity now flows, through Christ, into the soul drawn up into their oneness — a destination far too high to settle beneath.
We can think of salvation in fairly modest terms — sins forgiven, heaven secured, a relationship repaired. All true, but Jesus' prayer opens onto something vaster: that we would be drawn into the very life and love that the Father and the Son have shared from all eternity. The innermost room of the castle is not merely closeness to God but participation in the oneness of God himself.
This is the dizzying summit of the inward journey, and it is meant for ordinary believers, not spiritual elites. The same love the Father has poured into the Son is poured, through the Son, into us, gathering us into their oneness. It is too high to fully grasp and too good to ignore. Have you settled for a small salvation — forgiveness and little more — when Jesus prayed you into the shared life of the Trinity itself?
- Have I settled for a small salvation of forgiveness and little more?
- Can I take in that Jesus prayed me into the oneness of God himself?
- What would it mean to be caught up into the shared life of the Trinity?
Lord Jesus, you prayed that I would be one in you and the Father, caught up into the love you have shared from all eternity. Forgive my small vision of salvation. Draw me into that oneness — you in me, and the Father in you — perfected in one. Amen.