7th Sunday of Easter B - 15/5/1988 OLM, JC - 15/5/1994 OLS, SO - 20/5/2009 St. Joseph, WO

Two men bought the same kind of auto mobile on the same day. The two cars were exactly alike - same model, same color, same power, same equipment. It was an unusual coincidence. Even more remarkable was the difference between the owners of the two cars, and the use they made of them.

One man was an honest, law-abiding citizen. He used his car to drive to work, to church, to the grocery, to haul the children to school, to take his family on outings and vacations, to go hunting and fishing. Some times he even offered an elderly neighbor a ride to shopping.

The other fellow used his car for almost everything that was evil. He broke almost every traffic regulation. He used his car to rob and steal, to haul drugs, to commit all kinds of impurity.

Each man had exactly the same kind of car, but what a difference in the use of each car!

This illustration may help us understand what Jesus was talking about in today’s Good News. Nine times our Lord used the word :WORLD. “World” has many meanings:
1/First, “world” means all the things in the world, all the things created by Almighty God: the good earth, trees, rivers, mountains, and the creatures that live in them, birds, fish, animals, human beings. As God said when He created each of them: “It is good,” this world is the automobile bought by the good man, and used for good purposes.
2/The other meaning of the “world” might be expressed more accurately by the phrase “the spirit of the world”. It is the sec ond automobile, bought and used for evil purposes: greed, selfishness, abuse of alcohol, drugs, impurity of all kinds, stealing, lying, vandalism, violence, murder, racism, abortion. In the first meaning the world is used for good. In the second meaning it is used for

Jesus did not pray that His followers be taken out of the good world but that they be protected from the evil of the “world”. How encouraging to hear form the Son of God, who worked with His Father in creating the good world, now asking His Father to protect His followers from the countless evils in the world. We followers of Christ are to use every means to see that the law of God and the laws of the land are observed. We can increase police protection, improve our courts, build better blocks, neighborhoods, remove the conditions that breed crime, but all will fail until we use the method Jesus used in today’s Gospel, namely, prayer.

How about asking God to change the hearts of those who commit crimes? How about a prayer for any of dozens of criminals mentioned in the newspaper or on television? How about praying for the improvement of conditions that cause crime?

Christ is praying for all criminals, all sinners, including you and me. Join Jesus in asking the heavenly Father to protect us from evil, spiritual and material. Join our Virgin Mother and the apostles in the upper room in prayer and preparing ourselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God who comes and renews the face of the earth - better re-create this world.

Use the final words of the beautiful prayer Jesus taught us: Our Father who art in heaven .... deliver us from evil. Amen.

God bless you.


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