‘I have said these things to you so that you may not be led into turning away.

They will shut you out of the synagogues. 
But the hour is coming – when whoever kills you will consider it an act of devotion to offer to God.
And they will do these things because they have come to  know neither the Father nor me.

But I said these things to you so that when their hour comes you will remember them and that I told you. 

I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.
Now I go to the one who sent me, and yet none of you is asking me ‘Where are you going?’ 

Instead because I said these things to you, grief has filled your hearts. 

But I tell you the truth – it is better for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the ‘advocate’ will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you.’

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba€

But if I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin.
Now they do not have an excuse with regard to their sin.
The one who hates me hates my Father too.

If I had not done the works which I did amongst them, which no-one else did, they would not have sin.
Now they have seen [my works] and they have hated me and my Father.

But this happened in order that the word written in their law might be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without cause.’ 

When the ‘advocate’ comes –
whom I will send  to you from the Father
the Spirit of truth,
who comes from the Father,
– he will bear witness about me.

And you, bear witness! -because you have been with me from the beginning.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you.  If you were from the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you are not from the world, – I chose you out from the world – because of this the world hates you all. 

Remember the word which I said to you: ‘A slave is not greater than their master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too. If [on the other hand]  they keep my word, they will keep yours also. 

But they will do all these things  to you because of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be yours,
and your joy will be made full. 

This is my command that you love one another, as I have loved you.  

No one has greater love than this, that someone lays down his life for their friends. 

You are my friends if you do what I command you. 

I call you slaves no longer, because the slave does not understand what their master is doing. 

I have called you friends, because everything which I have heard from the Father I have made known to you. 

You have not chosen me but I have chosen you, and I have appointed you
that you should go and bear fruit
and that your fruit will ‘stay’,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.

These things I command you: to love one another. 

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

As  the Father has loved me, I have loved you all.

You must stay in my love.

If you keep my commands , you will stay in my love –
as I have kept my Father’s commands, and I stay in his love.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

Stay in me, and I [will stay] in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it stays in the vine, so neither can you [bear any fruit] unless you stay in me. 

I am the vine, you are the branches.

The one who stays in me and I in them, bears much fruit, since without me you can do nothing at all. 

Unless someone stays in me, they will be thrown out like branches and dry up, then people will gather them and throw them into the fire and they will be burned up. 

If you stay in me, and my words stay in you, whatever you want, ask for, and it will be done for you all. 

In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and you become my disciples.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

Peace I leave with you all, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled nor be afraid. You heard me say to you ‘I am going away and I am coming [back]  to you/’ If you loved me you would have rejoiced that I go to the Father, because the Father is greater than me. 

Now then I have spoken to you  before it happens, so that when it happens you may come to believe. I will not speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, but he has no hold on me. But so that the world knows that I love the Father, just as the Father commanded me, so I do. Get up, let us go from here. 

Lord in your presence I do not concern myself with great matters
or with things to hard for me
But I become still and calm
like a child on it’s mother’s breast
my God, you hold me close to you
like a mother
so that my soul is quieted within me
Psalm 131

If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, then consequently  he will give to you another ‘advocate’, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him and neither does it know him. You know him, because he stays with you all, and will be within you all. 

I will not leave you orphaned; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will go on seeing me, because I live, and you will live too. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. 

The one who has my commands and keeps them – that person is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and I will reveal myself to them. 

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba