Today will be a different liturgy for folks in different parts of the US. For most it will be the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. For others, it is the Seventh Sunday of Easter.
In the Gospel reading for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, we’re back in John 17, listening in on Jesus’ prayer to the Father for His disciples. He says that they are in the world, but “they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.” He goes on, “As you sent me into the world, so I send them into the world.” In other words, we are to be “in the world but not of the world.”
It would be easy for us to at times want to withdraw from the world. It’s a tough go out there, especially for those who stand up for Christ. But we must resist that temptation. Our job is to go out into the world and effect change. We can’t do that if we crawl under a rock. And that’s not what Jesus wants. He says to the Father, “As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.” We are called to make a difference in the world. How will you do that today?
Father, thank you for sending us into the world to bring the light of Christ. Show us opportunities today to do just that. Amen.
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