I have given them Your word and the
world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the
world. I ask that You keep them from the
evil one. They are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world. Sanctify
them in the truth; Your word is truth.
For their sake I consecrate Myself, that they also may be consecrated in
truth.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus, spoke
those words to His heavenly Father Whose work for Him on earth was about to be
triumphantly completed … prayed them for His beloved Galilean disciples, soon
to be Apostles with world-wide authority and charism, but now, at this moment,
facing the greatest trial of their lives … and twice, most emphatically,
He said to His Father:
They are not
of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Dear friends, do you think that the Church is
proud of, treasures, those words today?
Do you think that Catholics high and authoritative, are effectively teaching, and seeking to
exemplify, for their flocks … words,
which are Jesus’ own characterisation of His chosen and beloved
disciples, and as such. should be treasured above all ‘they are … just as I’?
Of course those words need to be understood
aright as Jesus intended them that is, but the question is not that deep,
rather it is a surface question of whether the Church generally even averts to
those words in her dealings with our world today? What do you think? I think not.
They
are not of the world, just as I am not of the world
Those are not antagonistic words, they are
words of supreme Christian love!
Jesus was shortly to undergo the horrific
Roman crucifixion to save the world; to save the world by changing the world
through the gift of His most Holy Spirit of truth and love whom He would bestow
on the world through those very disciples, those most true disciples, of
whom He said:
They
are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
So much has been and is still being done in
our times to accommodate the Church to the world, that an occasional
word of witness can in no-way make up for the, by now ingrained, attitudes of cosying-up,
wanting to be popular, wanting to make Jesus popular!!
Dear People of God, we will soon celebrate the
great feast of Pentecost, please, pray God, that He may grant us grace to
facilitate the Spirit’s coming by wanting what Jesus is sending Him for, to
form us in the like of Himself meaning wholeheartedly those words:
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
