Jn 17,11b-19 – Saint Bernardino of Siena, Presbyter – Optional Memorial
«I do not ask that you take them away from the world, but that you guard them from the evil one». It is a prayer full of trust that Jesus addresses to the Father in today’s Gospel. Jesus knows well that loving someone does not mean protecting them from every difficulty. Life remains marked by fatigue, trials, contradictions. But what really matters is that these difficulties do not destroy us internally. For this reason, Jesus does not ask that his disciples be taken away from the world, but that they be protected. It’s a fundamental difference.
Faith does not take us out of reality, but allows us to cross it without getting lost. And what is the way in which we are guarded? Jesus says it clearly: «Sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth.” God’s Word is not simply an edifying story or a collection of good advice. It is something alive and effective. It is a presence that illuminates, corrects, supports, saves. Too often we have reduced the Gospel to a moral or a habit in our liturgies. But the Word of God is much more: it is the concrete way through which Christ continues to safeguard our life.
When a person truly frequents the Word, changes his way of looking at things. Change the criteria with which you judge reality. It even changes the way we deal with evil and suffering. This is why returning to the Gospel means returning to what truly saves us. It means letting God’s truth consecrate our life, that is, making it stable, free and capable of resisting even in trials.
