15th
Sunday in Ordinary time
year B
Los Angeles, July 14th
–
15th, 2012
1st
Reading: from
the Book of the Prophet Amos 7,12-15
Psalm
: 84(85)9-10,11-12,13-14
2º Reading: from the letter of St Paul to the Ephesians 1:3-14
Gospel: Saint Mark 6,7-13
The Gospel of this Sunday reminds us of the time when Jesus chose his
twelve disciples and sent them out on a mission.
Throughout history God has called men and women to follow in his
footsteps and help in the mission of announcing the Good News to the whole of
Creation.
We the baptized have responded to this invitation and want to be
disciples of Christ and missionaries of the Good News.
Then, let’s pay attention to the instructions Jesus gave to his
disciples, the description of the work he proposed to them before sending them
out.
As the disciples did, every baptized person who accepts His invitation
must announce the Good News:
- with the community
- with confidence in the Holy Spirit, and
- with words and actions.
Let’s review each point.
-With the community. Jesus
sends out his disciples two by two. There were only twelve disciples and Jesus
sends them to the world in community.
All disciples of Christ need to understand the importance of the
community. We can’t follow Christ and proclaim His Word if we aren’t bound to a
community that, at the same time, is in communion with other communities and
with the Church. The community is the only way to remain close to the faith in
Christ and his message. Those who call themselves Christians but are not
attached to a community run the risk of announcing a Christ who has been
invented or adapted for the audience of the moment.
The second characteristic of the disciples of Christ is that they
perform their mission
-with confidence in the Holy
Spirit. When Jesus sends his
disciples out to the world He gives them power against evil and asks them not
to take many material things. We can live with confidence because we have
received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God who allows us to fight evil and who
helps us find whatever is necessary to live in peace and joy.
Only those of us who trust the Spirit of God understand that the
disciples of Jesus are full of God's power and that peace reigns in our hearts.
And to grow our trust we have prayer as an effective tool to share moments of
intimacy with God. (I remind you that the first
Friday of every month we have the prayer of Taizé in San Sebastian at 7pm).
Finally, the disciples of Christ, must proclaim the Good News
-with their words and actions. When the disciples set out on the mission that
Jesus had entrusted to them, they announced the presence of Christ with their
words and their actions. If we want to follow Christ and accept the mission He
entrusted to us at our baptism, we need to get strength from the Spirit inside
us to announce, through our words and actions that God is in us. We are
Christians all week and not just on Sunday. Through our words and actions
others can find that the God of peace dwells in our hearts and that we have
been entrusted to help the world discover and follow Him. Let’s be disciples of
Christ together with the community, let’s live with confidence and let’s
proclaim through our words and actions the presence of God in our lives.
Amen.
Fr.
Germán