Father, the hour has come: Mary and the approaching glorification

Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you. (John 17:1)

«Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you». Jesus’ sacerdotal prayer (John 17) begins with the announcement of the «hour», the central moment of all Johannine theology: the hour of the Cross, Resurrection, and mutual glory between the Son and the Father. Mariology finds in this «hour» the convergence point of its entire reflection: Mary, who was the «human hour» of the Incarnation of the Son (making it possible for the eternal Son to enter time), is also fully involved in the «hour» of glorification.## I. The «Hour» in John: Structure and MeaningThe theme of the «hour» (hóra) runs throughout the Fourth Gospel like a red thread: in Cana, «it is not yet my hour» (John 2:4). In debates with the Pharisees, «no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come» (John 7:30; 8:20). At His entry into Jerusalem, «the time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified» (John 12:23). In the farewell discourses, «the hour is coming» (John 16:32). And now, in His prayer, «Father, the hour has come» (John 17:1).Jesus’ «hour» in John is not a single event but the whole complexity of the Paschal mystery: from death to life, from humiliation to glory, from abandonment to perfect communion with the Father. The «hour» is simultaneously the darkest moment (the Cross) and the most radiant (Resurrection-Glorification): in John, these two aspects are inseparable because the Cross is already the beginning of glorification («when I am lifted up from the earth», John 12:32).The mutual glory between the Father and the Son that John 17:1 asks for is the economic expression of perichoresis within the Trinity: the Son glorifies the Father through His obedience to death, revealing the Father’s love for the world. The Father glorifies the Son by raising Him from the dead and exalting Him at His right hand, confirming the truth of His mission. This mutual glory, which theological tradition describes as the temporal expression of the eternal life of the Father and the Son, is the horizon within which all Christology, Soteriology, and Mariology find their ultimate meaning.The connection between Jesus’ «hour» and Mary has roots in John’s text. In John 2:4, when Jesus says «it is not yet my hour», He responds to Mary’s initiative at Cana. This mysterious response suggests that Jesus’ Paschal mystery, His «hour», is somehow linked to Mary’s presence and intercession. The «hour» began, in a sense, with the Annunciation: when Mary said «be it done», the hour of the eternal Word entering time initiated itself.## II. Mary and the “Hour”: Participation in the Paschal MysteryJohn 19,25 places Mary at the Cross precisely when Jesus’ “hour” reaches its peak and darkest moment: “Along with Jesus on the cross stood his Mother.” Mary’s presence at Jesus’ “hour” is not accidental; it fulfills a logic that dates back to the Annunciation. She who said “yes” to the Son in the “hour” of Incarnation is present in the “hour” of glorification, even when this passes through death.Tradition has identified Mary as the “servant of the hour” of Jesus: just as she made possible the Incarnation by saying “fiat,” so too, in a completely subordinate and dependent manner, she made possible her participation in the redemptive work, remaining present in the “hour” of the Cross. Not that her physical presence was necessary for the validity of the redeeming sacrifice, but rather that she was called to participate in it truly, with all her being, with all her suffering.Pope John Paul II, in *Redemptoris Mater* (n. 18), developed the idea that Mary’s faith in the “hour” of the Cross is the purest form of her pilgrimage of faith: she who believed in the Annunciation without seeing all the implications of her “fiat,” now believes on Calvary without seeing the Resurrection. This faith in darkness, adherence to Christ’s word without the sensible confirmation of his victory, is the model for all Christian faith that passes through the “hours” of darkness and apparent abandonment.The eschatological dimension of the “hour” finds its fullest expression in Mary. John 17,5: “Father, glorify me now with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world existed.” The glorification Jesus asks for is the restoration of the glory he had “before the world,” the eternal glory of the Son with the Father. Mary participates in this glorification through her Assumption: she who participated in the “hour” of the Cross shares in the glory that the Son asked the Father and that the Father granted him.## III. “To know you, the only true God”: Eternal Life as KnowledgeJohn 17,3: “This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” In John, “eternal life” is not a matter of time but knowledge: *gnosis* in the Johannine sense, which is the knowledge of love, a personal relationship with the Father and Son mediated by the Spirit. “To know” God means to be in relation with him. And this knowledge-love relationship is the “eternal life” that begins already in the present for those who believe.Mary is the creature who has most deeply “known” the Son, in the Semitic and Johannine sense of *ginoskein*: not abstract knowledge, but relational knowledge. She who “knew” him in the womb, who “knew” him in Nazareth for thirty years, who “knew” him on the Cross and in the glory of the Resurrection, possesses this “knowledge of eternal life” to such an extent that it surpasses that of any other human being. Her “eternal life,” confirmed by her Assumption, is the ultimate realization of this knowledge that began at the Announcement.The Christian mystical tradition, from Evagrius Ponticus to St. John of the Cross, identified *theognosia* (the knowledge of God) as the ultimate goal of contemplative life: not conceptual knowledge elaborated by scholastic theology, but loving knowledge mediated through contemplation. For this tradition, Mary is the model and icon of *theognosia*: she who “kept and meditated” in her heart is the quintessential contemplative, whose “knowledge” of God reached its definitive form in her Assumption.The connection between “knowledge” and “glory” in John 17, “glorify your Son” (v.1) and “this is eternal life: to know you” (v.3), points to a profound unity: the glorification that Jesus asks of the Father is the revelation of the knowledge of God that Jesus came to communicate. “Glory” is not a spectacle; it is the revelation of the intra-trinitarian life to the world: “I have manifested your name to men” (John 17:6). And this revelation finds its most eloquent icon in Mary, who knew the Son more deeply and, through her Assumption, is now the fullest witness of the glory he asked for.IV. **”Glorify me now with you”: Ascension, Assumption, and shared glory**John 17:5: Jesus asks the Father to restore him to the glory he had “before the world.” This “pre-cosmic” glory of the Son, veiled by the Incarnation without being eliminated, is restored through the Resurrection-Ascension. And this glory is shared with the disciples: “The glory that you gave me, I have given them” (John 17:22). The glorification of Jesus has an ecclesial dimension; he is not glorified alone but takes his followers along with him.Mary, in the order of creatures, is the first to share in this shared glory of the Son: her Assumption is one of the fullest expressions, among creatures, of the promise of John 17:22. The “glory that the Father gave to the Son” reached Mary in all its fullness: not only spiritually (as happens to all the saints), but corporally, in body and soul, just as the Son himself was glorified in body and soul in his Resurrection.## Christian Eschatology and MaryChristian eschatology, the hope of universal resurrection and eternal life, finds its most concrete “sign” in Mary. It is not merely an abstract promise but a realization already accomplished: in Mary, Jesus’ “hour” bore its fullest fruit. The glory Christ asked from the Father was granted to him, and this glory reached its complete extension to humanity through Mary. What we hope for ourselves and all redeemed humanity has already been given to Mary, and her “already” is the surest guarantee of our “not yet.”## Liturgical Celebration of Mary’s Shared GloryThe Church celebrates this shared glory of Mary in major Marian feasts: Assumption (August 15), Immaculate Conception (December 8), and Nativity of Mary (September 8). Each of these celebrations is an anticipation of eschatological glory: the Church, celebrating Mary’s glory, celebrates the destiny won by the Son for all humanity. “Father, the hour has come,” Jesus’ hour has arrived. His glory was accomplished. And Mary, who participated in that hour with her whole being, is the first sign of the glory that hour brought to humanity.## Maria’s Participation in Christ’s HourMary, who participated in “the hour” of Jesus from the Fiat to Calvary, was the first to share in the glorification the Son asked from the Father, and her Assumption is the most eloquent sign that this glory reached humanity.## References– John Paul II, *Redemptoris Mater*, nn. 18-19 (1987). – Pius XII, *Munificentissimus Deus*, nn. 38-44 (1950). – R. Brown, *The Gospel According to John*, vol. II (1970). – H. U. von Balthasar, *Theodramatik*, IV: “Das Endspiel” (1983). – A. Feuillet, *Le Sacerdoce du Christ et de ses Ministres* (1972).