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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.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Growing up, I remember playing backyard sports with my older brother and his friends. I was often chosen last because I was the youngest; the tag-along; the runt of the group.
If you wanted to win, then choosing me wasn’t the smartest idea.
But humanly speaking, it was understandable. Everyone else was stronger and faster than me.
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But what happens when God enters the picture?
All of a sudden, the same human being – once limited by nature – is transformed by grace.
Consider what happens in today’s Gospel.
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Jesus chooses the most unlikely men to be on his team.
None of them were scholars; nor were they wealthy; famous; educated; or influential. They were common folk with their own share of flaws, giving Jesus every reason to choose them last… if at all.
Yet each of them was given the grace to change – not only themselves, but also the world. A Church that started with twelve followers in today’s Gospel has since grown by one-million percent!
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Can’t you see a similar story unfolding in our parish?
We’re a small community. Compared to other, much larger parishes within the Archdiocese, we’d be the “runt” of the group.
Yet God has chosen us and given us the grace to grow into an active, joyful, life-giving community that’s increasing by the day, both in number and in Spirit.
That’s what happens when God enters the picture – one life is changed, followed by another and another.
Suddenly, everything – and everyone – is different.
We’ve all been called to be on his team. I wonder, how will we inspire further growth today?
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Image credits: (1) Christian Quotes (2) Great Commissioning, Domenico Gherlandaio (3) Nan Jones