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Gospel Reading for June 04, 2025 – John 17: 11b-19
REALLY HATE
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.”
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Look at Jesus. He was about to be arrested, to suffer extremely, and to die on the cross, and yet, he was praying to the Father for us. He wanted to make sure those who follow him are protected from the Evil One. For some of us, perhaps if we were in his shoes, we would not have time to be thoughtful of our followers; to make sure that they will still be in good hands and will be protected after he had gone. Perhaps, we would be full of ourselves, worrying about what we have to go through. But there are also parents who are like Jesus, who, when they acquire terminal illnesses start preparing to leave and make sure that their children will be safe and secure after they have gone.
If there is anyone to REALLY HATE without being unchristian, it is the evil one. Jesus consecrated himself for us so that we may also be consecrated in truth. The truth is: there can be no salvation without Jesus.
No one else except you, Lord Jesus, can save us from the evil one!
