23RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 3 / (Green)
Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a & 9b
The Lord takes delight in his people.
1st Reading: 1 Cor 6:1-11
When you have a complaint against a brother, how dare you bring it before pagan judges, instead of bringing it before God’s people? Do you not know, that you shall one day judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you incapable of judging such simple problems?
Do you not know, that we will even judge the angels? And could you not decide everyday affairs? But when you have ordinary cases to be judged, you bring them before those who are of no account in the Church! Shame on you! Is there not even one among you wise enough to be the arbiter among believers?
But no. One of you brings a suit against another one, and files that suit before unbelievers. It is already a failure that you have suits against each other. Why do you not rather suffer wrong and receive some damage? But no. You wrong and injure others, and those are your brothers and sisters. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Make no mistake about it: those who lead sexually immoral lives, or worship idols, or who are adulterers, perverts, sodomites, or thieves, exploiters, drunkards, slanderers or embezzlers will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Some of you were like that, but you have been cleansed, and consecrated to God and have been set right with God, by the name of the Lord Jesus, and the Spirit of our God.
Gospel: Lk 6:12-19
At this time, Jesus went out into the hills to pray, spending the whole night in prayer with God. When day came, he called his disciples to him, and chose twelve of them, whom he called ‘apostles’: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alpheus and Simon called the Zealot; Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who would be the traitor.
Coming down the hill with them, Jesus stood in an open plain. Many of his disciples were there, and a large crowd of people, who had come from all parts of Judea and Jerusalem, and from the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon. They gathered to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And people troubled by unclean spirits were cured. The entire crowd tried to touch him, because of the power that went out from him and healed them all.
Reflections
What is calling? Rowan Williams puts it: "the trouble with the idea of vocation is that most of us, if we are honest, have a rather dramatic idea of it". There is no drama but perhaps fear and hesitations. The responsibility being given by God is service to others and maybe for many that’s a tall order to follow. A call has three distinct parties: someone who calls (Jesus), someone who is called (me & you) and those to whom the called is sent (those to whom you minister). What is at the heart of a call is God’s first act or initiative of calling someone to be his partner of sharing and living the Good News. His calling is the beginning of something new. It means losing one's old life and finding new life in following Jesus and becoming witness to the active presence of the Reign of God. Calling doesn't happen, once and for all, at a fixed date. The realization of a vocation is not a blinding flash, but a point at which it all makes sense. It makes sense to follow Jesus and become passionate about God and his mercy to those who are excluded and marginalized. Or simply we become passionate about what matters to God – being a merciful presence to others especially to those whose lives are wounded and hurting.
Daily Reflection 2018
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
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