The Gospels tell of an incident in which a lawyer asks Jesus what is the great commandment in the law.
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said unto him, “'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'” Matthew 22:35-39 KJV
We commonly call the prayer that Jesus taught on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:9-13, The Lord's Prayer. That prayer was a model, pattern or structure of prayer that teaches us how to pray. The prayer that Jesus prays in John chapter 17, is His prayer that He prays. He prayed for Himself, for His disciples and for all who would believe on Him from the disciples preaching and teaching. It is the Lord Jesus' prayer.
Daniel Webster, one of the Founding Fathers said this: “If we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury our glory in profound obscurity.”
A few weeks ago there was news of Pope Leo XIV proclaiming that salvation is only in Jesus Christ alone. He went on to say that although Mary is certainly an important figure in Scripture, that it is not in Mary there is salvation. That is quite a bold statement.
Recently Pope Leo XIV visited the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey where the imam invited the Pope to pray. In respect, Pope Leo removed his shoes and toured the mosque in silence, but declined to pray. All accounts of the visit indicated that the Pope was gracious and warm. Some people felt Pope Leo XIV should have used it as an opportunity to make it a symbolic gesture of global unity. Others believed he was making a clear distinction between respecting another religion while at the same time
not participating in its worship. Once again, another bold move.
“The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles…and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.” Noah Webster.
