PRAY

Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. – Luke 6:12

Jesus was a very busy person. He preached to thousands. He healed and cast out demons. He traveled from one place to another—on foot. He had frequent meetings and trainings with His Apostles. He attended occasions like weddings, wakes, and burials, as well as personal dining invitations. He had a full weekly schedule.

Doesn’t that kind of life sound familiar to many of us?

Yet, amidst His busyness He always had His quiet moments with God. He prayed.

He knew that even if He Himself is the Son of God, He needed to constantly connect with His Father. In fact, He prayed as He preached, healed, and in just about everything else He did.

Are you too busy? Then the more you need to stop or pause. You need to reconnect and to recharge with the One True Source of it all—or you will be drained.

In fact, it won’t be a bad idea that in whatever you do, you pray.

Not only will you be empowered; you will also have more peace and meaning in what you do.

Do it now. Alvin Barcelona (apb_ayo@yahoo.com)

Reflect: Do you have your quiet moments with God in prayer? Do you pray even at work? Try doing both today. You will be blessed.

Father in heaven, grant me the grace to pray more often, that I may connect with You always and live a more purposeful life. Amen.

St. Thomas of Villanova, pray for us.

The world is filled with empty and seductive philosophies and ideas. It is disturbing to find the willingness of people to embrace ideas and ways of life that are indefensible. Arguments built on “I feel ...” rarely result in the correct analysis of a philosophy or position. We have to be far more rigorous than relying on our feelings. God has given us our intellects to seek out and embrace the truth.

Colossians 2:6-15

6 Brothers and sisters: As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, 7 rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to the tradition of men, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ. 9 For in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily, 10 and you share in this fullness in him, who is the head of every principality and power. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body, with the circumcision of Christ. 12 You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And even when you were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; 14 obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross; 15 despoiling the principalities and the powers, he made a public spectacle of them, leading them away in triumph by it.

Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11

R: The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.

1 I will extol you, O my God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. 2 Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. (R) 8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. 9 The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. (R) 10 Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord, and let your faithful ones bless you. 11 Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might. (R)

GOSPEL

Jesus works closely with the twelve Apostles. If we want our ministries to last, we have to train people to carry on the mission after us just like Jesus did. It is a commitment to work with a limited number of people to benefit the common good and the future. Let us invest time and energy in forming those in our care.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

I chose you from the world, that you may go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord.

Luke 6:12-19

12 Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. 13 When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. 17 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 18 came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. 19 Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.

think: How do you carry out a succession planning for your work, business, or ministry?

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Read the Bible in one year - Psalm 81-85   

 

JESUS GIVES US WORTH

I had a chance to go to Vietnam once, and for the first time in my life, I carried more than seven million dong (Vietnamese currency) in my pocket. Bargaining and haggling around Saigon Square can be stressful. That sounds like a lot of money!

When I was already back in the Philippines, I found out that I still had some dong left in my wallet. Staring at the bundled money, I realized that where I am now, it is only a piece of paper. What gives value to a monetary bill? Is it the texture or the design? Or is it because people agreed and set the value of that piece of paper?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus called men to become His disciples. Some of the disciples had an unknown background—one is called “the less,” another “the great,” one is a tax collector, a skeptic, a fiery activist, a rebel zealot, a denial king, and a traitor. These are men of the world whose worth and value are questionably undetermined.

What makes people valuable? Is it because of their personality or profession? Or is it because someone with authority makes them worthy?

Nevertheless, Jesus called them. They became disciples not because they are worthy, not because of their background or profession, but simply because Jesus gave them the worth fitting for a disciple.

Jesus elevated the disciples by giving them worth when He called them. Our value and worth are not because of who we are with our personality and professions.

I am worthy and valuable in the eyes of God because Jesus laid His eyes on me. He called me and gave me the value worthy of being loved by a God who is patient with me despite my being unworthy. Fr. Haluendo Amit, OCD

------- REFLECTION QUESTION -------

Do you believe in your worth? To God you are worthy. Believe, and live a worthy life.

Because of You, Lord, I have worth. Thank You. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _____________________________