Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

Choose either the video or audio below.

Gospel
John 17:11b-19

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.
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.
And I consecrate myself for them,
so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

Reflection

There are many ways to understand the message of Jesus, but the one that is expressed here is really important. It is Jesus came into the world to reveal the truth, reality, what life is really for and what it's about and how we're supposed to live in it and change it. We have been set apart, consecrated with the power to hold and to teach and to be in the truth.

That's our destiny, and that's the work of God within us.

Closing Prayer

Father, so much of what you teach, we first have to believe in before we understand it. Give us the wisdom to stay with you, even though we're not sure what you're asking of us. Give us perseverance, curiosity, imagination so we can find and live in the truth. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.