January 19, 2018

Gospel: Mk 3:13-19
Then Jesus went up into the hill country, and called those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed Twelve to be with him, and he called them ‘apostles.’ He wanted to send them out to preach; and he gave them authority to drive out demons. These are the Twelve: Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John his brother, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, which means ‘men of thunder’; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

Reflections
CALLED TO BE APOSTLES
All of us Christians by virtue of our baptism are called to be apostles. Being an apostle means that we proclaim the Gospel — Good News of salvation. I think primarily this means that we ourselves have somehow to live what we preach. The good news is that God in his unconditional love for us has become one of us to make us understand and experience concretely what this love is all about. If our news is GOOD news, it has to show in our being that we are a people of joy. How can one proclaim a good news with a long face. But somehow in the maldevelopment of a certain type of spirituality, holiness has become identified with long ascetic face and joyless demeanor. Then of course preaching this good news means allowing oneself to be God’s instrument in “warming the hearts and healing wounds of people” as Pope Francis so wonderfully expresses it. I remember when I was studying in Germany, I used to visit a church where the crucifix has no arms because they were cut off when the Allies bombed the city during World War II. Beneath the cross, there is a sentence: “ I have no arms. YOU are my arms.”So one can say being an apostle means being God’s arms to embrace the world.

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