Seventh Sunday of Easter Ð Sr. Liane Delsuc, SNDdeN
May 17, 2026
John 17: 1 Ð 11a
The Gospel today presents us with the priestly prayer of Jesus, his last teaching to his disciples before entering into his passion. Jesus reveals his deep love for his disciples as he reviews his life, telling the Father how he shared with them everything he knew, and the gospel writer says, ÒThey believed.Ó Did they really understand? Probably not yet. So Jesus prays for them, ÒThat they may be one as we are one,Ó revealing the possibility of an intimate relationship with their God.
Jesus had protected them, guarded them, given them GodÕs word and throughout his short ministerial life had shown GodÕs compassion for those suffering marginalization from society: the sick, the poor, the women, the children, those judged as sinners. In doing so, Jesus challenged the religious and political oppression of his time, angering the authorities, who then wanted to be rid of him.
Jesus knew that violence destroys both the victim and the perpetrator, so he surrendered into the injustice, violence and hatred, raising his arms on the cross, saying, ÒThe violence ends here.Ó How often we are disheartened and even enraged by the injustices and violence in our world as we awaken each day to new horrors. And how hard it is not to wish harm on those who are destroying othersÕ lives. But we are called to follow the Prince of Peace, to seek the path of nonviolence as his disciples.
Jesus prays again for his disciples, ÒConsecrate them in the truth,Ó hoping that they (and we) might live in the truth of GodÕs unconditional love, such an awesome gift. Do we believe it?
As he faced his death, he could say to his disciples that he wanted their joy to be complete like his.
Because of his trust in the absolutely unconditional love of God, Jesus was able to look back on his life and his longing to bring goodness into our world and know deep joy, a joy we can all experience when we recognize we are embraced by Love and like Jesus, give ourselves in love. Let us reflect on how we have felt when we have loved and been loved. Have we known joy?
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John 17: 1 Ð 11a
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,
ÒFather, the hour has come.
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people,
so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with you,
with the glory that I had with you before the world began.
ÒI revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,
because the words you gave to me I have given to them,
and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,
and they have believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be in the world,
but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.Ó
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Meet Sister Liane Delsuc, SNDdeN

Sister Liane Delsuc entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1975 after having graduated from the College of Notre Dame, Belmont, Calif., with a Spanish major and an elementary teaching credential. She taught in a bilingual program in a low-income multi-ethnic public school before entering. Her teaching experience led her to a masterÕs program and specialist credential in the area of education of those with learning differences. For all her religious life, Liane has chosen to live and serve among people who are marginalized and made poor. Her first mission was to inner city Los Angeles where she developed a Resource Room in two Catholic elementary schools to serve children struggling to learn. That experience led her to create the Julie Billiart Learning Center in East L.A. to serve junior high students. From there, Sister Liane responded to a call to serve in a shantytown outside of Lima, Peru, where she lived and worked for 16 years. When she felt it was time to return to CA, Liane started a Resource Room for struggling students at Moreland Notre Dame School, Watsonville, founded by the SNDdeNs, and situated in an agricultural community on the Central Coast. After 16 years there, Liane began her ministry of teaching ESL/Citizenship classes to adults in Phoenix and helped to coordinate an SND USA ministry to asylum seekers/refugees in collaboration with other interfaith organizations.