CHOSEN TO DO GOD’S WORK
Introduction
If there are difficulties and dissensions in the community, these should be settled in the community itself rather than bringing them before a civil court, St. Paul tells the Corinthians. Shouldn’t communities not be “one heart and one soul”?
As in other very important occasions in his life, Jesus prays before selecting twelve apostles from among his disciples. For this is a very important moment. He will train them and then will take the risk of entrusting his own work to fallible people. He knows they will not always do the best they can, as they will have moments of fear, discouragement, cowardice and compromises. Still, he trusts them enough and will help them to bring his work to a good end in God’s own good time. In this Eucharist, we express our trust in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
your Son, Jesus Christ could build
firm foundations for your Church
on weak and fallible people.
Only he could do it; we would not dare.
We pray with your Son,
that our faith may remain unshaken
in your Church and those who lead it.
As they struggle and grope,
let your Holy Spirit fill them
with his wisdom and fire.
And lead us all forward in hope.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen!
1 Reading – 1 CORINTHIANS 6:1-11
Brothers and sisters: 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? Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world? If the world is to be judged by you, are you unqualified for the lowest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? Then why not everyday matters? If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters, do you seat as judges people of no standing in the Church? I say this to shame you. Can it be that there is not one among you wise enough to be able to settle a case between brothers? But rather brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers? Now indeed then it is, in any case, a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another. Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated? Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers. Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the Kingdom of God. That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Responsorial PSALM 149:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6A AND 9B
R. (cf. 4) The Lord takes delight in his people.
Sing to the LORD a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king. R.
Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory. R.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches;
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia. R.
Alleluia – see JOHN 15:16
Alleluia, alleluia.
I chose you from the world,
That you may go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
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.
Commentary
Did Jesus Choose Well?
There are times when I have prayed hard before taking certain decisions that mattered most, only to realize later that they have “backfired” and left me wondering if I made my decisions correctly. I am sure you would have had similar experiences as well. Today’s passage should put us at ease. Even Jesus’ own decision to choose the apostles, arrived after a whole night of prayer, seems to have “backfired” with the choice of Judas. In our “common sense” we wonder if Jesus couldn’t have chosen better! However, in the “gospel-sense”, we know that it was all part of the grand design of God, and Jesus’ decisions, arrived at after hours of prayer, were perfectly in alignment with God’s will. It must console us: if we have arrived at decisions after sincere efforts at discerning God’s will and hours of prayer, even when they are seemingly disastrous, we can rest assured that our decisions are safe within the grand design of God.
Intentions
– For the pope, that he may lead the Church in faith, wisdom and mercy, we pray:
– For our bishops united with the pope, that they may see and attend to the great needs of the Church in our day, we pray:
– For those who are afraid to answer the call of God to follow Christ and to serve the people of God, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
in the name of Jesus, your Son,
your ministers and people offer to you
the memorial of his death and resurrection.
Let us, sinful as we are, be your holy people,
that we may bear witness to your name
and be a believable sign to all,
that your Son lives
and that you are our mighty God and Father,
now and for ever. Amen!
Prayer after Communion
Holy God and Father,
to us, your people on the way,
you have let your Son speak
his uplifting word
and give to us his food of strength.
Renew your Church in its leaders and members,
that we may live as we believe
and raise in our world a prophetic voice
that speaks with credibility
of justice, truth and unity.
May thus the world believe in your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Blessing
Jesus entrusts his own mission to weak and fallible human hands. “Entrusts,” for he trusts them enough. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can do God’s work. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!