Daily Readings - Wed May 27 2020
Acts
28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.29I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.30Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.31So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.32"Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.33I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing.34You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.35In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"36When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.37They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him.38What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
John
11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one.12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Sermon
In today’s readings, we hear St. Paul’s heartfelt farewell to the elders of Ephesus and Jesus’ prayer for His disciples. In Acts, Paul reminds the leaders of their sacred responsibility to care for the flock, warning them of dangers both from outside and within. He expresses trust in God’s grace and emphasizes the importance of selfless service, recalling Jesus’ words about the blessedness of giving. In John’s Gospel, Jesus prays for His disciples, asking the Father to protect and sanctify them, not to remove them from the world but to equip them for their mission in it. Both readings highlight the themes of leadership, unity, and the divine call to serve others.
These passages are deeply connected. Paul, as a leader, mirrors Jesus’ own prayer and example. Both emphasize the importance of unity and the need for protection from evil. Paul’s tears and Jesus’ prayer reveal a profound love for those entrusted to their care. They remind us that true leadership is not about power but about serving and sacrificing for the well-being of others. Both readings also underscore the reality that followers of Christ are called to live in the world but not to be conformed to it. We are to be sanctified in truth, living as witnesses of God’s love.
In our daily lives, these readings invite us to reflect on how we care for one another and how we live out our faith in the world. Like Paul, we are called to be vigilant and generous, using our talents to support the weak and to build up the Body of Christ. Like Jesus’ disciples, we are sent into the world to share God’s love, even as we remain connected to Him through prayer and His Word. Let us strive to live with the same selflessness and unity that Paul and Jesus modeled. May we, too, be sanctified in truth and become instruments of God’s grace in the world.