The Gospel for The memorial of St. Peter Claver Priest is taken from Luke 6:12 through the 19th 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 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 disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem in the coastal regions 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 he healed them all. Jesus had many, many disciples, men and women who were his students, who were listening to him and learning from him. But then he took 12 of them and named them apostles, which was a kind of graduation from being a learner, a disciple, to being one who has authority to teach and to preach as an apostle. And what I love about this story is he no sooner named them and then he stood on the same ground as everyone else, almost to say, this is my humanity.
And say, you humans, you, my apostles, will be able to do the same work you just saw me do. You will be given the power of the Holy Spirit to heal, to transform, and to free people from everything that would rob them of the kingdom of God. Please reflect on the meaning of these scriptures. And after the music, I will close with a prayer. Satan. Satan Closing prayer Father, there’s a way in which we always continue to be learners.
And by the very way we act toward each other, we say a great deal about what we believe, about the dignity of human beings, about the presence of God. Bless us with wisdom. Bless us with the inheritance you promised us so that we truly can be the apostles you need us to be. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
