REFLECTIONS TODAY

For the workaholic, long periods of prayer appear to be a waste of time. I remember someone who, when asked to keep vigil for an hour at the adoration chapel, quipped, “What will I do for an hour? Stare at Jesus?” The whole night Jesus spends in prayer is an indication of his intimacy with the Father. It also reveals the importance of making decisions, not based solely on our own deliberations, but in consideration of God’s will which we try to discern with our prayer. Jesus prays when he is about to choose his Apostles; he really pours his heart into choosing these persons. As we celebrate Sts. Simon and Jude, let us ask them to teach us the habit of prayer, which they surely have learned from the Divine Master. Do we consult God in prayer when we make decisions, especially the most important ones?
 

First Reading • Eph 2:19-22 

Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Responsorial Psalm • Ps 19 

“Their message goes out through all the earth.” 
 

Gospel • Lk 6:12-16 

Jesus went up 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.

Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]. Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.