Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 12, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051224-Sunday.cfm

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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.
John 17:11-15

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays with great tenderness for his beloved disciples. He asks the Father to “keep” his friends, the way we keep precious things in our hearts, our prayers, and our memories.

I have prayed like this for the people I love, haven’t you? We ask God to protect them the way we would protect them. We don’t ask for miracles, but simply that they be delivered from the evils of “this world”.

We want them to have the courage to live good lives, and to be blessed by that goodness. We want them to find joy in the immense blessings God offers us, yes, in “this world” as God created it.

This is the prayer Jesus offers for his disciples … and for each one of us.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Rest in Jesus’s prayer for those who love him that we may be one with him in Trinitarian Love. Let it convince your heart of the joy, hope, love, and mercy God has for each of us.

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Poetry: May They Be One – Bob Hartman

And Jesus said:

This is my prayer. 
My prayer for the disciples who follow me now. 
And my prayer for all the disciples to come.

One. May they be One.
As I am One with you, Father.
As you are One with me.
May they be One. One with us.
So the world will believe that you have sent me.

One. May they be One.
For you have given me your glory,
and that's why I have passed it on to them.
That they might be like you and me.
That they might be One.

One. May they be One.
Completely One.
I in them.
You in me.
One.
So the world will know you sent me,
and that you love them,
just like you love me…

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Music: We Are One – Three O’Clock Session