"I can no longer condemn or hate
a brother for whom I pray,
no matter how much trouble he causes me.
His face...is transformed
in intercession into the countenance of a brother
for whom Christ died,the face of a forgiven sinner."
---Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory... I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost...

“Now I am coming to you... the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth...

“...I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am...

---John 17