REFLECTIONS TODAY
After the healings on a Sabbath which provoke controversy with the Pharisees, Jesus leaves the synagogue and goes to the mountain to pray. The mountain is a good place to pray. The name of the mountain is not mentioned. Here, Jesus prays the whole night. He needs to reenergize himself after encountering difficulties in his ministry. Looking at his upcoming activities, Jesus needs a core group. He prays for guidance that he may choose 12 right persons to be his apostles. They will be sent to replicate what he is doing, like preaching and healing. Judas Iscariot is singled out as the one who becomes a traitor. Did Jesus commit a mistake in choosing him? No. Judas had the freedom, like the other apostles, to be faithful to the Master and not to be a traitor. He chose to disassociate from his Master and the group and serve the Establishment, at Jesus’ expense. In spite of our fervent prayers, something can still go wrong. Let us be prepared for it.
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.
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2023,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.