10/28/2023 (Saturday) Today’s gospel reading: Luke 6:12-16

12 Jesus went up 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.

10/28/2023 (Saturday) Today’s gospel reflection: Luke 6:12-16
Today, we recall the appointment of the twelve Apostles. The first verse in the gospel reading above is very instructive. Before Jesus could do a vital task, He went up to the mountain to pray and spent the whole night in prayer to His Father in heaven. Jesus is God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. Yet He is showing us what prayer can do. He is showing us how to make an essential decision. Have we ever prayed one whole night before we made an important decision? If not, then let us look at what Jesus did.

So, how important was the appointment of the twelve apostles that needs to be prayed for, for one whole night?

Let us recall that Jesus came down to earth to redeem and reunite the people to God through the establishment of a kingdom with Him as the ultimate king. Jesus knew that this divine project of redemption cannot be forced on people. It can only be done with their cooperation. So they have to be taught first and be convinced with love. He also knew that His ministry will not last long but the plan of salvation has to continue even after He is gone. So He has to select a few good men to be do just that – continue the work of salvation up to the farthest ends of the world.

We can see the enormous task of those to be selected. We can see the importance of the decision of Jesus – the success of the Kingdom Project! So He prayed alone for one whole night. That is part of His mission – to show us the way. That is leadership by example.

Yet the twelve Apostles whom Jesus had chosen were all gone a long time ago. Still the divine project of redemption is on-going up to this day. This happens because there are people who desire and accept to be part of the project year after year. Are you one of them? If so, believe that you are one of those that Jesus had prayed for.

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