Gospel 

Luke 6:12-19

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,

and he spent the night in prayer to God.

When day came, he called his disciples to himself,

and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:

Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,

James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,

Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,

Simon who was called a Zealot,

and Judas the son of James,

and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

And 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

came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;

and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.

Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him

because power came forth from him and healed them all.

Reflection

Jesus had many, many disciples, men and women who were his students, who were listening to him and learning from him. But then he took 12 of them and named them apostles, which was a kind of graduation from being a learner, a disciple, to being one who has authority to teach and to preach as an apostle. What I love about this story is he no sooner named them, and then he stood on the same ground as everyone else. Almost to say, this is my humanity and say, you humans, you my apostles, will be able to do the same work you just saw me do.

You will be given the power of the Holy Spirit to heal, to transform, and to free people from everything that would rob them of the Kingdom of God.

Closing Prayer

Father, there's a way in which we always continue to be learners. And by the very way we act toward each other, we say a great deal about what we believe about the dignity of human beings, about the presence of God. Bless us with wisdom. Bless us with the inheritance you promised us so that we truly can be the apostles you need us to be. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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