In today's first reading, Acts 20: 28-38, Paul says to the church of Ephesus and to us: "Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the Church of God that he acquired with his own Blood. I know," Paul says to us, "that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock.'" In today;s Gospel, John 17: 11b-19, Jesus begs His Father, and ours, to "keep...[us] in...[His] name," to "keep...[us] from the Evil One," and to "consecrate...[us] in the truth."
The Lord, through St. Paul, is reminding us that, as Church, we are a garden purchased by Jesus' Blood and by His surrendering His life to the Father even until death on a cross. The Holy Spirit, Paul tells us in Acts 20: 28-38, has appointed each of us as a gardener. We have been given the task of cultivating this sacred garden, lovingly tending to it, nurturing it with love, purifying it with forgiveness of self and others and by repentance of our sins, strengthening it with the Word, the sacraments and prayer, and fertilizing it with obedience and trust in our God, our Father, , as Jesus trusted the Father even to death, death on a cross.
Knowing how difficult it would be for us to cultivate this living garden of faith, Jesus, just before going to the Garden of Gethsemane to surrender to his killers, prayed for us. He asked His Father to keep us in His name and to keep us away from the Evil One, that is from "savage wolves" that would enter the Garden of the Church, that is, that would descend upon our lives. He also asked the Father to consecrate us in the truth, in the Word of God. God the Father will not disappoint His Son. Every day He preserves us in His name, guards us from falling into Satan's traps, and consecrates us in truth!What an awesome God!
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