First reading Ephesians 2:19-22
In Christ you are no longer aliens, but citizens like us
You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm 18(19):2-5
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God,
and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
Day unto day takes up the story
and night unto night makes known the message.
No speech, no word, no voice is heard
yet their span extends through all the earth,
their words to the utmost bounds of the world.
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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Jesus, our main cornerstone
“You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone…” (1st reading). St. Paul’s words to the Ephesians continue to echo to us today. We are called to build our lives on Him alone. He is our cornerstone, the firmest foundation on whom we can have a lasting, stable and meaningful life.
In the gospel, St. Luke portrays Jesus as a person of prayer. He went to a quiet place to be in loving communion with God His Father. For Jesus, He chose to build His life on God, His firm foundation. After spending time in prayer, He chose the twelve among his disciples to be the core of the new community he was forming. As His disciples today, let us follow the footsteps of Jesus, our Master and allow ourselves to make time and space to be in loving communion with God.
Reflective question:
Is Jesus my firm foundation?
Is Jesus my firm foundation?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year A” by Sr Sandra Seow FMVD.
