I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one The 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. (17:15-18)Once in a conversation about discernment with a priest I like and respect, he suggested that perhaps I might consider a monastic vocation. When I told this to a couple of friends who had been monastics earlier in their lives, they just looked at me and laughed. So did my spiritual director.
Here, as Jesus continues his prayer for his Disciples, we see very clearly that he is not suggesting that they withdraw from the world. (Not all monastic communities do, but some are cloistered.) They may not belong TO the world, but they are not to be withdrawn from it either. Jesus is his own best example of this. His entire ministry has been spent IN the world.
This is something we need to remember as Christians. Our ministry is not just what we do at church. It is out IN the world. Gather for prayer and community support, but then get out there and DO ministry.
Is it easy? No. Will it make us popular? No. Will it make us rich? No. (What was that about a camel and the eye of a needle?) Is it what we're called to do? Yes.
Go. The world awaits.
Peace,
Jeffri
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