![]() ![]() He asks, “How can any one of you with a case against another dare to bring it to the unjust for judgment instead of to the holy ones?” We’ve seen in the last few years the ugly case of the fight over the remains of Archbishop Fulton J. Paul castigates them for behaving totally antithetically to their Christian identity, bringing suits against each other before civil tribunals. In the first reading, we similarly see how many of the Christians in Corinth had ceased living as Christians, as Paul reminds them forcefully. In the Gospel, we see that even among the 12 Jesus called after intense prayer, and after an initially positive response, there was Judas Iscariot, who would betray him in many small ways before betraying him unto death. We see in today’s readings how some failed to persevere in doing so.For this to occur, we need to “be with Jesus,” by praying in union with him, by teaching in union with him, and by loving in union with him. Luke tells us, wanted to touch him “because power came forth from him and healed them all.” The mission of the Church is to continue to teach as Jesus’ mystical body, to continue to heal through the sacraments and through charity, and to continue to make it possible for people to touch Jesus and be touched by him. We see that he taught the crowds, he healed them of their diseases and cured them of demonic possession. The third thing we see in the Gospel is the way Jesus trained the twelve to carry on his mission.And just as the apostles responded to Jesus’ invitation and left other things to be with him and made themselves available to be sent out on mission, so have we, something that is a response to Jesus’ prayer and doubtless something that gives him great joy. These facts don’t make us better than anyone else, but we are certainly fortunate. Likewise we can say that Jesus calls all 7 billion alive today to come to the knowledge of the truth, but only 2 out of 7 is Christian and only half of them are Catholic. ![]() Out of all people he chose the Jews out of all the Jews, some became his disciples out of all those disciples, 12 became apostles out of all 12, he chose three (Peter, James and John) to be with him in many of the most pivotal moments of his public life (healing the daughter of Jairus, the Transfiguration, the Agony in the Garden) and out of the three, he chose one, Peter, on whom to build his Church. God calls us all to him, but among all of us he chooses some for more intensely intimate cooperation with him. We come here face-to-face with the mystery of divine election. Mark describes: “He called them to be with him and so that they might be sent out” (Mk 3:14). It says he “called to himself” and “named Apostles,” another way of saying what St. From among his disciples, he selected twelve apostles. The second thing we see in this Gospel episode is what he did at dawn.For that reason, we should never really be afraid of living up to the vocation that God has given us, because just as much as Jesus prayed for the apostles, prayed for Peter that his faith may not fail but that after his conversion he would strengthen his brothers (Lk 22), he prayed to the Father for all those who would hear the Gospel through the work of the Apostles (Jn 17), and prays for us still. He’s ascended into heaven in order to intercede for us. What an example about the importance of prayer for us who are not God! Jesus seems to have been praying in discernment about whom he should choose as his apostles and praying in intercession for those whom he was about to choose. We should never forget that Jesus likewise prays for us. He who is the second Person of the Blessed Trinity was praying all night. We see him at the beginning of the Gospel go up a mountain and spend all night in prayer to his Father. The first lesson is that our vocation, our life, is a direct result of the prayer of the Lord Jesus.We also see some who don’t live according to this vocation. In today’s readings we see several important elements for us to grasp about the deepest realities of our vocation and mission to live in and spread Christ’s kingdom. ![]()
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