Gospel: Lk 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.
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The following of Jesus comes in two phases: the period of discipleship and the commissioning as Apostles. When Jesus calls the disciples, he tells them to “come and see,” and they stay with him. Discipleship entails “being with Jesus” in order to know him up close and personal: his thoughts and feelings, his teachings and the extraordinary deeds that accompany them. All these convince them that Jesus is no ordinary teacher and miracle worker; he comes from God. The authority that emanates from him is divine.
Now they are ready to become his “Apostles” or those who are sent. The Apostles represent Jesus, the one who sends them, because they have lived with him and imbibed his very person to become alter Christus.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
