Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 17, 11b-19
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying:
“Holy Father, keep them in your name
that you have given me,
so that they may be one just as we are one.
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me,
and I guarded them, and none of them was lost
except the son of destruction,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you.
I speak this in the world
so that they may share my joy completely.
I gave them your word, and the world hated them,
because they do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world
but that you keep them from the Evil One.
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.
And I consecrate myself for them,
so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”
That we may be one
1. Protect them. God will always keep you and protect you, because He knows that we all go through hard and tempting times. So, don’t give up prayer and cling to Him because there will always be people in this world who will seek to harm you. Jesus himself says so, be wise and smart because these people don’t play by the same rules as we do, which is the Gospel. Lift your eyes to Heaven and keep going forward. Don’t forget that while you are walking along this Christian path there will be many hidden traps to make you fall, but Jesus is with you. Don’t slacken. Don’t give up. Be smart and prudent.
2. Be one. I believe that this issue of unity is one in which we continue to be lacking, both within our Church, as well as in our relationship with other churches. Jesus invites us to be united and not to be uniform. Uniformity would mean that we should all be the same, and that’s not what Jesus is referring to, but rather that we should be united. A temptation we have is that we want everyone to be the same as us. But what Jesus proposes is that we accept our differences and learn to walk forward, without competition, because we are all walking towards eternity. We all want and must reach Heaven.
3. Consecrated in the truth. Live in truth and be conscious of the fact that you can learn from every event and situation in life. You can’t lie to yourself about the past or fantasies that don’t exist. The only truth is reality, but you have to accept it as it is. If you do that, you can achieve many things in your life and in the lives of those around you. God is Truth. Live in the truth, so everything can change!
Always remember that something good is on the way.
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
