Wednesday, May 16, 2018
7th Week of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 20:28-38
Gospel: John 17:11-19
Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed, “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world whereas I am going to you. Holy Father, keep them in your Name (that you have given me,) so that they may be one, just as we are.
“When I was with them, I kept them safe in your Name, and not one was lost except the one who was already lost, and in this the Scripture was fulfilled. But now I am coming to you and I leave these my words in the world that my joy may be complete in them.
“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 do not ask you to remove them from the world but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world; consecrate them in the truth-your word is truth.
“I have sent them into the world as you sent me into the world, and for their sake, I go to the sacrifice by which I am consecrated, so that they too may be consecrated in truth.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
At the end of each Mass, we receive the mission to “go in peace to love and serve the Lord”. This implies loving the neighbor because for as long as we are in this finite existence, to love and to serve the Lord means to love and to serve our fellowmen. This mission is rooted in the mission of the Apostles as reflected in the prayer of Christ who said in today’s Gospel, “I have sent them into the world as you sent me into the world and for their sake.”
This apostolic mission has become ours through baptism. With this inherited mission comes the promise of a helper who is no less than the Holy Spirit. We are also assured of Jesus’ prayers to the Father when in today’s Gospel reading he prayed, “I do not ask you to remove them from the world but to keep them from the evil one.” (John 17:15). He further prayed that we be consecrated by the Father in the truth (John 17:16).
As a good master who never delegates a task without giving the necessary provisions, the Lord sent the Holy Spirit and gave the assurance of his constant prayers. The ball is now under our control. It is the enemy within us that is usually the big hindrance in the fulfillment of our mission to love. Let us conquer ourselves by the constant practice of self denial.
Each time we finish attending Mass, may every “thanks be to God” we acclaim after the instruction to “go in peace to love and serve the Lord” be a renewal of our commitment to our inherited mission of spreading love in the world.—
(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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