7th Sunday of Easter
June 1, 2003
Reading I: Acts 1:15-17,20-26 II: 1 John 4:11-16
Gospel
John 17:11-19

11 Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.
12 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.
13 But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.
14 I gave them your word, and the world hate them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one.
16 They do not belong to the world anymore than I belong to the world.
17 Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.
19 And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.


Interesting Details
One Main Point

Although still in the world, Jesus looks on his earthly ministry as a thing in the past (v.14). Death is the act that begins the process of leading his community into holiness, armed only with the truth, to continue the mission, sent by God into the world.


Reflections
  1. Imagine you are about to leave the group of close friends and disciples. What do you have to tell your group? What would your prayer be for them?
  2. How does the world treat me? Am I given to Jesus "from this world?" Do I see myself as part of the risk Jesus has taken in choosing his followers?
  3. Why does Jesus pray to the Father for "those you have given me" but not for the "world?" How often do you pray for the protection and the unity of Jesus' followers and of the church?

Enter Reader's Response or View Reader's Response this week
A synthesis by the Vietnamese Christian Life (Dong Hanh) Community

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