St. Augustine of Canterbury, bishop 

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Acts 20:28-38

Keep watch over yourselves

and over the whole flock the Holy Spirit has placed into your care. Shepherd the Church of the Lord that he has won at the price of his own blood. I know that after I leave, ruthless wolves will come among you and not spare the flock. And from among you, some will arise corrupting the truth and inducing the disciples to follow them.

 Be on the watch, therefore, remembering that for three years, night and day, I did not cease to warn every­one even with tears. Now I commend you to God and to his grace-filled word, which is able to make you grow and gain the inheritance that you shall share with all the saints.

 I have not looked for anyone’s silver, gold or cloth­ing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have provided for both my needs and the needs of those who were with me. In every way I have shown you that by so working hard one must help the weak, remembering the words that the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘Happiness lies more in giving than in receiving.’”

 After this discourse, Paul knelt down with them and prayed. Then they all began to weep and threw their arms around him and kissed him. They were deeply distressed because he had said that they would never see him again. And they went with him even to the ship.

 

Ps 68:29-30, 33-35a, 35bc-36ab

Sing to God, kingdoms of the earth.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

John 17:11b-19

 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep those you have given me in your name, so that they may be one, as we also are.

When I was with them, I kept them safe in your name; and not one was lost, except the one who was already lost, and in this, the Scripture was fulfilled. And now I come to you; in the world I speak these things, so that those whom you gave me, might have joy － all my joy within themselves.

I have given them your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world, I do not ask you to remove them from the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. I have sent them into the world as you sent me into the world; and for their sake, I go to the sacrifice by which I am consecrated, so that they too may be consecrated in truth.

 

 Gospel Reflection：

Change is a part of life. Without change there is something in us that sleeps and seldom awakens. Change, when it is for the better, produces growth, creates new and better ways of being.

But it can also be sad and gut-wrenching because it often involves farewells that are not only uncomfortable, but throw us off balance. Change has always been a part of the life of the church as well-from the very beginning in fact.

All throughout the many changes and transformations it has gone through though – over a period of two thousand years in fact – there has been one thing that has always remained stable, always remained the same, namely, the abiding presence of Jesus in the life of the community he left behind in the world in order to continue the work of bringing the Good News of God’s salvation to men and women of every age.