Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3, 13-19
Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted
and they came to him.
He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles,
that they might be with him
and he might send them forth to preach
and to have authority to drive out demons:
He appointed the Twelve:
Simon, whom he named Peter;
James, son of Zebedee,
and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges,
that is, sons of thunder;
Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus;
Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean,
and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
Summoned those He wanted
1. Went up the mountain. The place where Jesus meets with his Father God is up the mountain. And that’s where He thinks about the decisions He must make and together with his Father God He finds the strength to take on what his mission implies. Therefore, find your space for your encounter with God and think about the decisions you must make, entrust yourself to God and ask him to enlighten you. Solitude and your encounter with God will allow you to visualize your mission and make the right decision. Don’t make decisions in the midst of noise, but in silence. Don’t decide in the midst of a crowd, but in solitude. Don’t decide in haste, rather pause to think and pray. Don’t make decisions without God, but together with Him.
2. Might be with him. The process is clear in the call. First it’s to be with Him and, through Him, to help others. The mission is to preach and proclaim. That’s our task, to be with Jesus in order to speak of Jesus. Everything else can be a matter of human ego disguised as apostolic activity. Remember, the first element to be an apostle is to be with Jesus. I believe that this Gospel teaches me a lot because with all the activities that I’ve taken on and continue to take on, what happens to me is that I spend very little time with Him because of the busy schedule that I have created for myself. If this happens to me as a priest, I can’t imagine what might happen to you. So, let’s make an effort to spend more time with Him.
3. Authority. The authority that Jesus gives us in the Church is to alleviate and heal, not to impose and complicate other people’s lives. Many times, our bureaucracy suffocates more than it alleviates and many times our church closes in on itself rather than opening up to everyone. We must remember that the authority we have resides on being with Jesus and through Him, alleviating the need for Christ that others have.
Don’t forget that something good is on the way!
God bless you and protect you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
