Every so often I read about someone who is advocating "The Benedict Option." No, this option has nothing to do with the Pope Emeritus. It has to do with St. Benedict, the founder of western monasticism. The idea is that the world has become a terrible place, and the only way to deal with it is to disconnect from the world as much as possible, much as St. Benedict did when he founded monastic communities in the middle of the desert. No offense to St. Benedict, and I am sure that what he was doing was the right thing at the time. But it is hard to read today's Gospel (Jn 17: 11B- 19) and think that what we are called to do is to abandon the world as much as possible. In fact, in His prayer to th Father, Jesus seems to be saying just the opposite. He asks the Father NOT to take His followers from the world, and says that He has sent them into the world. Yes, the followers do not belong to the world, just as Jesus does not belong to the world, but Jesus' followers (us) cannot abandon the world. The role which Jesus gives His followers throughout the Gospels is to spread the good news, to make disciples of all nations, to be His witnesses throughout the planet. That requires us to be out there, with the people in the world, with "the sheep," as Pope Francis puts it. If all we think about is our own situation, our own salvation, our own holiness-- we aren't doing what Jesus tells us to do, and we're not being holy at all, we're being selfish and, dare I say it, narcissistic. Sure the world has lots of sin in it-- has since Adam and Eve and will have until Jesus comes again. Our job, with God's grace, is to overcome that sin in some small way in our sphere of influence. That's why Jesus sent us into the world.