First Reading: Ephesians 2:19-22
Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household,
Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building, framed together, grows up into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 19:2-3, 4-5
R. Their message goes out through all the earth.
Alleluia: See Te Deum
Gospel: Luke 6:12-16
And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God.
And when day was come, he called unto him his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom also he named apostles: Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon who is called Zealot, and Jude the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was the traitor.
Reflection
Before Jesus chooses the Twelve, He spends the whole night in prayer. He does not rush. Everything starts with the Father.
And look who He chooses - ordinary men, fishermen, a tax collector, even Simon the Zealot and Jude. He builds His Church on real people, not perfect people. He is still doing that today - He builds on you.
We are no more strangers, says St. Paul. We are fellow citizens, built together into God's house. Your life is a stone in that house. And like the heavens that declare God's glory without a word, your faithful life proclaims His message to all the earth.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you prayed all night before calling your apostles. Teach me to pray before I act. Make me a living stone in your Church, built on the apostles, with you as the cornerstone. Let my life declare your glory. Amen.
