24 May, 2023 | Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

 Gospel Jn 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.”

Reflections:

For the sake of humankind, Jesus offered himself to a cruel death, so that we may live. We live but are steeped in the sinful nature of the world that we forget our identity of being 

children of God. We are allured by the world, therefore we condemn, we judge. In the midst of all the evil forces Jesus prayed that we be kept safe in God’s name so that  we are untouched by the evil one. Jesus prayed that we remain united because that is our identity of belonging to God. He had kept everyone under his fold now he entrusts this sheepfold to the protection of his father.

Activity:

 Look into your heart and seek  those areas that become an obstacle for you to be a true Christian.

Shop at Pauline Book and Media Store Online