October 28 – Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude
Ephesians 2:19-22
Luke6:12-19

A. Text/Context
• The gospel today tells us about the call of the 12. Here in the gospel of Luke the 12 is referred first as disciples and later as apostles
• The two words are distinct in meaning and we should not confuse them. A disciple (Latin discipulus) is a follower, someone who learns from a teacher and assimilates that teaching into his own life
• An apostle (Greek, apostolos) is someone who is sent out on a mission, someone who will disseminate the teaching of the master to others
• Jesus prayed in the mountain the whole night. The mountain is a powerful symbolism because it is a place of prayer, a place of encounter with God. After an encounter with God Jesus made the decision and he summoned the 12 disciples

B. Human Situation
• Jesus is now determined to choose a number of persons who should assist and succeed him in his ministerial work. He retired to a mountain even after all the labors of the preceding day, he continued all night in prayer to God
• The choosing of the 12 could be of utmost importance for Jesus because he has to make a mountain retreat before choosing them
• The 12 apostles were chosen without qualifications at all. Jesus simply chose them
• And today we are reminded once more that we really have no reason not to pray be it communal or personal
• Foremost of the example is what Jesus did before He carried out a very important task

C. Challenge
• In this atmosphere of uncertainties and anxieties brought about by this pandemic
• We are reminded of our constant recourse to prayer
• A reminder to us that nothing gives us solace, peace, calm and serenity of soul except recourse to prayers
• When we read the scriptures, God talks to us; when we meditate and reflect on the scriptures, we talk to God
• The Church as established by Jesus through the foundation of the blood of the apostles as elaborated in the 1st reading in Ephesians is a perfect Church
• But the church as an institution is also run by sinful people and so she is also not free from any guilt
• And today we have this reality in the Church as we are beset with a looming crisis already getting difficult to contain
• The latest one is the controversial documentary of Pope Francis concerning same sex civil unions
• What is the response of Pope Francis concerning the Vigano report?
• Why is it that until today the McCarrick report is yet to be released
• But you see, we are praying for the Church for the pope, for the bishop, for the clergy in all the masses in the entire world and we are doing it for thousands of years
• Is there any more reason why would this crisis is persistent and doesn’t seem to end?
• To add more to our prayer duties, we are also to pray always for the Church and the Holy Eucharist is the highest form of prayer and the personal devotions are supplementary
• But just the same, they will be our own mountain retreat where we will encounter God
• From there, God will be our only answer to the crisis happening in the institutional Church and the world that we can hardly understand