Jesus' last prayer!

John 17:11-19

11 Jesus prayed: Holy Father, "I'm no longer going to be visible in the world; They'll continue in the world while I return to you. Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life that you conferred as a gift through me, So they can be one heart and mind 12 As we are one heart and mind. As long as I was with them, I guarded them In the pursuit of the life you gave through me; I even posted a night watch. And not one of them got away, Except for the rebel who chose to be lost (the exception that proved the rule of Scripture). 13 Now I'm returning to you. I'm saying these things in the world's hearing So my people can experience My joy completed in them. 14 I gave them your word; The godless world hated them because of it, Because they didn't join the world's ways, 15 Just as I didn't join the world's ways. I'm not asking that you take them out of the world But that you guard them from the Evil One. 16 They are no more defined by the world Than I am defined by the world. 17 Make them holy-- consecrated-- with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. 18 In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. 19 I'm consecrating myself for their sakes So they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission. I'm not asking that you take them out of the world; But that you guard them from the Evil One. 

Food for thought!

In his farewell, we note that Jesus did not pray that his disciples be taken out of this world. He never prayed that we might find escape; he prayed that we might find victory; he prayed not to run away but to face the rough and tumble of life. This means that our prayer and meditation and quiet times, when we shut the door upon the world to be alone with God, are not intended to be flight from the challenges of the world; they are not meant to withdraw us from life, but to equip us better for it. Prayer does not offer us release from problems, but a way to face and solve them. It does not offer us an easy peace, but a triumphant warfare. It does not offer us a life in which troubles are escaped and evaded, but a life in which troubles are faced and conquered.

In today's first reading, Paul is doing his farewell too (Acts 20:36-38) 

36 Then Paul went down on his knees, all of them kneeling with him, and prayed. 37 And then a river of tears. Much clinging to Paul, not wanting to let him go. 38 They knew they would never see him again-- he had told them quite plainly. The pain cut deep. Then, bravely, they walked him down to the ship. 

They all knelt down in prayer, even as they cried! Then, got up and bravely, they walked Paul down to the ship that took him to Rome, where he was to be persecuted. This is what we must do whenever we have a challenge before us: PAUSE FOR PRAYER TO JESUS, THEN BRAVELY STAND UP, COMPOSE YOURSELF AND GO FORWARD TO FACE YOUR CHALLENGE, YOUR PROBLEM, YOUR ENEMY, YOUR DAY, YOUR MEETING, etc. Even as you weep, even as you struggle, even as you don't understand why this happens to you, even as you are sorrowful, stand up and match on forward. Be brave, as Jesus told us yesterday: «In the world you will have trouble. Be brave!.»