Gospel Reading – Matthew 10: 1-7
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.”
The Gospel of the Lord
The Mass intention is for
Reflection:
My friends I look in wonder at the Twelve Jesus seems to have chosen so carefully. He even calls them by name. I find myself asking whether he could have chosen better: they seem so far from what an apostle should be, always bickering, and finding it very difficult to understand what Jesus was saying.
Yet he trusted them so much that he sent them even at the beginning of his ministry and gave them great power. He shared his own mission with them! I realise that Jesus calls me too by name, in spite of all my failings and limitations, and sends me to join him in combatting evil, healing hurts and proclaiming the kingdom. I thank Jesus for his trust in me and ask for the grace to be able to hear his call sending me to others.
- Have you given any thought, who is going to replace me when God calls me home? You are his eyes and ears?
