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What does it mean to be a Christian? Is one not just a follower but a disciple? Is it not to bear witness to the one we love and worship?

What message are we sending to the world, if we will not stand united with our Christian sisters and brothers around the world? To bear witness to the truth? To stand united against abortion and same sex marriages? Against secularism and materialism? Against poverty? Against the many moral ills of the world?

Let us stand United dear sisters and brothers as we bear witness and give glory to our one triune God. In everything we say, in everything we do; all in the love of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen

FIRST READING
Acts 22:30; 23:6–11

GOSPEL
John 17:20–26

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:
“I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

It is by far easier to remain silent then to speak up for the truth. Truth that often the world and those who live in it distort for their own means or pleasure.

What is the truth? Is it that it is ok for an unmarried teenage son to share the same bed with his girlfriend? Is it ok to steal from your company in one way or another because they pay lowly or froze paying out bonuses? Is it ok that younger children attending Sunday school skip mass till they are older? There is no end to the lists in which the truth can be perverted or distorted.

There is only one truth and that is to live in the light of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is truth personified! Let us remain in Him consecrated in truth. Amen

FIRST READING
Acts 20:28–38

GOSPEL
John 17:11b–19

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.”