During Lent: remember that Jesus prayed for the Church.

John 17:15-19: My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

We need to pray for the church. We need to pray with the same heart that Jesus did when he prayed for his Church in his darkest hour, as he prayed on the way of suffering.

Jesus prayed for his Church in Gethsemane and his prayer had an urgent intensity about it. Here in the garden he reached the difficult place of choosing God's will and not his own. The way of suffering, the cross and death were before him, and yet his prayer was for the Church.

What did Jesus pray for?
1. Not for the absence of suffering, but for protection from the evil one.
Jesus did not pray for the Church to have an easy or prosperous life, but for the safety of those who follow him. Therefore, we as the church may be in the wrong place if we only experience peace and serenity. We are not of the world, because we are sanctified by the Truth. We are sent into a world where the Truth has many enemies and Jesus prayed that we may be protected as we spread the Word about him.

2. Jesus did not want to see the church become like the world. No, we are to become more like Jesus. Our sanctification is a process where we become more Christ-like, in spite of the resistance of the evil world around us.

3. Jesus prayed that his Church will go into the world, in spite of the dangers that want to rob us from the Truth of Christ. We need to, like Christ, serve the world as the humble servants of God and of the needs of the world, as Jesus did! We are changed into the likeness of Christ as we give ourselves for the salvation of the world.

4. As Christ sends us to work for him for the sake of a lost world, we are always under the cover of his prayer that we may be protected!