May 20, 2015
Wednesday,
th Week of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 20:28–38
Gospel: Jn 17:11b–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)
The last paragraph of today’s Gospel reading mentions of a sacrifice by which Jesus was consecrated. We read: “I go to the sacrifice by which I am consecrated, so that they too may be consecrated in truth.” The last phrase is disturbing because it implicates us who, like the disciples, bow to follow Jesus. The implication of Jesus’ consecration to suffering is that we too may be consecrated in truth. But which truth?
“Truth” broadly sweeps the Christian arena but the biggest portion of it is love. The God we follow is Love and so Love covers all and satisfies all requirements of discipleship. “Love God and do what you please”, wrote St. Augustine. Since God takes it seriously what we do to our brothers and sisters, love also covers our fellowmen. In fact, Jesus himself had reduced all the commandments to loving God and loving the neighbor. In so doing, loving the neighbor became the concretization of loving God.
Love of fellowmen makes our consecration very taxing. The good news is that Jesus has committed himself to pray for us. In today’s Gospel reading he prays, “I do not ask you to remove them from the world but to keep them from the evil one.” (John 17:15). He further prays that we be consecrated by the Father in the truth: “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world; consecrate them in the truth—your word is truth.” (John 17:16).
Let us be serious with our discipleship by taking seriously our consecration to Love. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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