Category: Time to Pray

  • John 17:1- 5

    Jesus said these things and having lifted up his eyes to heaven, said:
    ‘Father, the hour has come. 

    Glorify your son, so that the son might glorify you. 

    Just as you have given to him authority over all flesh, so that all who you have given to him – he will give to them resurrection life. This is ‘resurrection  life’ – that they may know you, the only true God and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 

    I have glorified you on the earth, by completing the work which you gave me to do. 

    And now glorify me, Father in your presence , with the glory which I had, by your side. before the world existed.

    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

  • John 16:25-33

    I have said these things to you in ‘parables’; the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in ‘parables’, but I will tell you in plain speech about the Father.

    On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf –  

    for the Father loves you all of his own accord,
    because you have loved me
    and you have believed that I have come from the Father. 

    I came from the Father and have come into the world.
    Again I am leaving the world and I am going to the Father. 

    His disciples said ‘Look, now you are speaking plainly and no longer in parables. We know now that you know all things and you have no need for anyone to question you. Because of this we believe that you have come from God. ‘

    Jesus answered them: ‘Now you believe?
    Behold the hour is coming
    and it has arrived when you will be scattered each to their own place,
    and you will leave me alone.
    But I am not alone,
    because the Father is with me. 

    I have said these things to so that you might have peace in me.
    In the world you have trouble.

    But be courageous, I have overcome the world.’

    O Lord Jesus Christ,
    stay beside me to defend me,
    within me to guide me,
    before me to lead me,
    and above me to bless me,
    that with you and in you,
    I may live, and move and have my being,
    for ever and ever.
    Amen.

    (unknown)

  • John 16:16-24 Birth and death

    Jesus said…

    ‘After a little while you will no longer be able to look at me, and again after a little while  you will see me.’

    Then some of  his disciples said to one another ‘What does he mean when he says ‘‘After a little while you will no longer be able to look at me, and again after a little while you will see me,” and ‘Because I go to the Father?’

    So they were saying  ‘What is this that he says ‘After a little while?” We do not know what he means.’

    Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he  said to them: ’Are you discussing amongst yourselves the meaning of what I said: “After a little while and you will no longer be able to look at me, and again after a little while you will see me?”

    Truly, truly I say to you, You will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will be sad, but your sorrow will become joy.”

    A woman when she gives birth, has sorrow because her hour has come. When she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a human has been born into the world. 

    So now you have sorrow –  but I will see you again, and your hearts will be joyful, and no one will take that joy away from you. 

    And on that day you will ask me nothing. 

    Truly, truly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father, in my name, he will give to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy might have a full measure.’

    God, give me grace to accept with serenity
    the things that cannot be changed,
    Courage to change the things
    which should be changed,
    and the Wisdom to distinguish
    the one from the other.

    Living one day at a time,
    Enjoying one moment at a time,
    Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
    Taking, as Jesus did,
    This sinful world as it is,
    Not as I would have it,
    Trusting that You will make all things right,
    If I surrender to Your will,
    So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
    And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

    Amen.

  • John 16:12-15 The Spirit

    Yet I have many things to say to you,  but you cannot bear them now. 

    When  he comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you in all truth.  For he will not speak to you on his own account but he will speak whatever he will hear and will tell you the things that are coming. 

    He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and announce it to you. 

    Every thing that the Father has is mine. Because of this I said that he takes from what is mine and announces it to you.

    Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
    Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
    Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
    Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

  • John 16:8-11 Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

    And when he comes he will ’shame’ the world about sin, about right-ness and about judgement. [Why?]

    First, about sin – because they do not believe in me.

    Then about right-ness – because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer. 

    Finally about judgement – because the ruler of this age has been judged. 

    Lord, you have given me so much,
    I ask for one more thing –
    a grateful heart.

    George Herbert€

  • John 16:1-7 Exclusion

    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€

  • John 15:22-27 – Without excuse

    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

  • John 15:18- 21 – Hatreds

    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

  • John 15:11-17 – Greater love

    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

  • John 15:9-10 – Love me do

    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)