May 19, 2021

Jn 17: 11b-19

And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. 

But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Christ shields us from evil

Something about the words “evil one” sounds just plain scary. I recall a television show (many years ago) called The Shadow. How frightening just to know there existed this creepy, shadowy figure whose sole aim was to harm people.

We do know true evil lurks throughout the world. It manifests itself in many ways – terrorism, murders, human trafficking. The list seems endless. The Evil One is constantly at work all around us, and he prefers to stay hidden and deceptive. As St. Ignatius of Loyola teaches, evil often presents itself as an angel of light, so that we long for “dazzly” things that are not good for us. The best way to overcome this evil is through prayer and deep trust in the power of God. God helps us to confront the activity of the Evil One. We must confidently stand our ground with Christ as our help and shield.

—Kathy England is a Pastoral Associate at St. Xavier Church in Cincinnati, OH.

Prayer

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

—Excerpt of St. Patrick’s Breastplate