Scripture/Bible: And now I am no more in
the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father,
keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as
we are one. 12 While I was with them, I
kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me; I have guarded them, and none
of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be
fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to
thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy
fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them thy
word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that thou
shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the
evil one. 16 They are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the
truth; thy word is truth. 18 As thou didst send me into
the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And
for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.
John 17:11-19
Reflection: What
will a sole bread winner do when he comes to know that he or she is no longer
going to be there to take care of the children? What will the thinking be and what
plan will they make to rehabilitate them?
For
at least three years they had dedicated their lives to Jesus and his mission
and they had confidence that it was something special to follow Jesus, but now,
thanks to Jesus, who never made them think of future worries, they were
calm.
If
there was any one who needed to worry, it was none other than Jesus. Now it was
really a moment of crisis; for he was indeed their only hope and they were
going to see that hope visibly crushed. The life of him, whom they put their
complete trust and hope in, was going to be snuffed out completely from their
midst.
What
a crisis it is when the one you are dependent on totally or rather put your
complete trust and hope in for everything, is now soon going to be no more. In
such situations, a talk on eternity and eternal life and meeting the person in
eternity doesn’t work.
The
only consolation that works is that of providence; who will substitute or
provide for what we are going to lose.
But
with Jesus there was plan B always in place, may be it had not sunk in the
dedicated disciples.They may have even taken sometime, even post resurrection for
plan B to sink in; “Holy Father, keep them in
thy name, which thou hast given me”
If
you think that the Dedicated Disciples were such fools or so slow to understand
this plan B, it is still worse with many of us who face similar situations. We
forget that God was introduced to us a Father by Jesus and as Father; he cares for us much
more than our earthly father. Yet we keep worrying about the daily things of life as if God as our Father doesn't care about our tomorrow.
Prayer: “O God, I believe that you
are able to provide me with every blessing in abundance, so that we may always
have enough of everything and that we may abound for every good work.” (Cfr. 2 Cor 9:8)
DD = Dedicated Discipleship: Come grow in the Lord with us
