First reading Colossians 2:6-15
The Lord has brought you to life with him
You must live your whole life according to the Christ you have received – Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted in him and built on him and held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of thanksgiving.
Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some second-hand, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ.
In his body lives the fullness of divinity, and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every Sovereignty and Power.
In him you have been circumcised, with a circumcision not performed by human hand, but by the complete stripping of your body of flesh. This is circumcision according to Christ. You have been buried with him, when you were baptised; and by baptism, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead. You were dead, because you were sinners and had not been circumcised: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our sins.
He has overridden the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay; he has done away with it by nailing it to the cross; and so he got rid of the Sovereignties and the Powers, and paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession.
Responsorial Psalm 144(145):1-2,8-11
How good is the Lord to all.
I will give you glory, O God my king,
I will bless your name for ever.
I will bless you day after day
and praise your name for ever.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.
All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God.
Gospel Luke 6:12-19
Jesus chooses his twelve apostles
Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.
He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.
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In the silence, God is present
In the gospel today, we see Jesus retreating to the hills and spending the entire night praying to God the Father. He demonstrates the importance of silence and being present with God. Silence scares many of us because it is confusing and awkward. For many of us, silence can be intimidating. We might struggle with what to do during silent prayer, finding ourselves distracted by thoughts of what we need to do next. However, Jesus invites us to set aside time for prayer, regardless of our busy lives. In silence, we can truly find God and enter into an intimate and personal relationship with Him. The comforting truth is that God is the first to desire a loving communion with us. Thus, He waits for us patiently.
During our silent prayer, let us be aware that Jesus is calling us by name to deepen our relationship with Him. By being with Him, He sends us out to be His presence in the world today.
Reflective question:
How can I make staying with Jesus in prayer my top priority?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year C” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD.
