Today's Reflections
The Mission of the Twelve
Lk 6:12-19
12[Jesus] departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. 13When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles: 14Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, 16and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
17And
he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great
crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea
and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon 18came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. 19Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.
Reflection:
From them he chose Twelve.
At first glance, there is nothing exceptional about the twelve
apostles. They are just ordinary working people, not socially
influential. But Jesus recruits them for his mission. He trusts them as
to take risks on them. He chooses them for work, hard work with lots of
sacrifices. He does not call them for any material position. He means
them to serve his people.
Whoever
we are, whatever we have, we can do something for the Lord. We are
called and chosen by God to labor in his vineyard, to take care of the
great multitude of believers. We work to win people for God, not to make
them loyal to us. We labor to build up God’s people, not to create our
own fans’ club. We must give ourselves to God and his people, not to
receive something from them or use them for our purpose. We must be
where the people are, imitating Jesus who “came down with them and stood
on a stretch of level ground” in order to minister to them hands-on.
How do you contribute your time, talents,
and treasures to the service of the Church,
your parish, your school, or your community?
No comments:
Post a Comment