The Gospel for Tuesday of the 23rd week in Ordinary Time is taken from Luke 6, chapter 12 to the 16th verse. 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 12, 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 people from all Judea and Jerusalem and, 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. We see in this passage the humanity of Jesus always turning to God his Father for advice, for direction. He’s on a mountain and he prays for the answer to who should become apostles. He receives it. And then we see them doing the work that God is empowering them to do.

They come down to the level of humanity. They come down to a level stretch, and there’s the great crowd of people longing for something. And what they’re longing for is best described as a kind of healing process where they’re given everything that they need in order to build the kingdom of God. That’s the work of the apostles to empower with spirit. That’s the work of the church to empower us with spirit, to do the work. Take this time to reflect on these thoughts.

And now we’ll close with a prayer foreign the closing prayer. Father, in this story, everyone longed to touch you, to feel the presence of God within you. And it was healing. Awaken us that we too have this power of God dwelling in us. And when our intention is that we want people around us to have the fullness of life that God called them to, we resonate a healing power. Help us to continue in our intention to be there for others.

And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.