Word of the day

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians
Eph 2:19-22

Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

From the Gospel according to Luke
Lk 6:12-16

Jesus went up 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 Twelve, 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.

We often forget that Jesus is praying for us. This is indeed our strength. The strength of being able to say to the Father: ‘But if you, Father, do not see us, look at your Son who is praying for us’. From the first moment Jesus prays: he prayed when he was on earth and he continues to pray now for each of us, for all the Church. This is about love! Love does not look to see whether one’s face is ugly or fair: He loves! And Jesus does the same: he loves and chooses with love. And he chooses everyone. On his list there are no important people according to worldly criteria: there are common people. The only feature which characterizes them all is that they are sinners. Jesus chose sinners. He chooses sinners. Jesus calls everyone! We remember in the parable of the marriage feast of the son: when the guests did not come, what did the master do? He sent his servants: ‘Go and bring everyone home! The good and the bad’, the Gospel says. Jesus chose everyone. (Homily, Santa Marta – 9 September 2014)