＊＊＊ 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, O kingdoms of the earth.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

John 17:11b-19

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：

Prayer of Jesus

The gospels repeatedly tell us about Jesus leaving his disciples to spend entire nights in prayer to his Father. We are given no clues as to what and how exactly he prayed. Now, in the “Priestly Prayer” of Jesus in Hohn 17, we have a glimpse to his style of prayer. And, how beautiful it is!

Several features strike me: the absence of any litany of his own needs; overflowing sense of intimacy and familiarity with the Father; deep concern and care for his own disciples and everyone who will come to believe in him, asking the Father to protect them, consecrate them, and bring them to the kind of union that he shares with the Father….

If this prayer is any indication, can we imagine how central we and our concerns are for Jesus in his “daily conversation” with his Father? And to know that he has prayed for us-what greater security we need to let go of all our fears and anxieties!

St. Justin, martyr 

Justin Martyr was born around AD 100[8] at Flavia Neapolis (today Nablus) in Samaria. He was Greek but self-identified as Samaritan.

 In 1882 Pope Leo XIII had a Mass and an Office composed for his feast day.