A reading from the gospel according to John 17:11B-19:

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying:
11B “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one.
12 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.
13 But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.
14 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.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One.
16 They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.
17 Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.
19 And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

Reflections:

The gospel above is a continuation of the Lord’s Prayer for His disciples. He prayed for their unity, protection and consecration in truth. Without unity, the disciples will be defeated by the enemy. Nowadays there is a lot of talk about unity especially among politicians who are obviously just courting their constituents to support them. In other words, they want unity for their selfish interest. It must be emphasized here that when Jesus speaks of unity, He is talking about oneness for the defeat of the enemy and for the success of the Kingdom which He Himself established. People must never sacrifice truth and justice for the sake of unity.

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Indeed, there is a lot of division in this world. This is the work of the enemy, the devil. Even in the church, there is division and mistrust. More often than not, some people are just promoting their own selfish agenda by hook or by crook. Let us look into ourselves how we contributed to this unfortunate situation. We really need to pray with Jesus for the healing of this division and for the people of God to be one.

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Although they are in the world, the followers of Jesus do not belong to the world. They belong to Jesus. Their values do not conform to the world but to Jesus alone that is why the world hates them as it hated Jesus. The world resists the light because it prefers to remain in darkness. Nevertheless, Christians should never be discouraged in being the light to the world.