Reading 1
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.
Ps 19:2-3, 4-5
Responsorial PsalmR. (5a)
Their message goes out through all the earth.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
R. Their message goes out through all the earth.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
R. Their message goes out through all the earth.
Gospel
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.
Meditation: Ephesians 2:19-22
Sts. Simon and Jude
You are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:19)
A local prayer group rallies to pray for someone who has been in a bad car accident, and despite the doctors’ predictions, that person walks out of the hospital with no serious injuries. A church social-justice group gets together to help victims of a natural disaster, and members of the group bring them home-cooked meals every night for four weeks. A childless family decides to adopt an orphan from overseas and ends up adopting four more!
What do these stories have in common?
We could answer by looking at Paul’s words today. When he calls us “members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19), he doesn’t mean individually. He means that we are to be a community, “built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (2:22). It’s this aspect of “togetherness” that is at the heart of God’s vision for us—that we live as one people in him. It’s as if together we make up a majestic cathedral reaching to heaven. Each believer is but one stone in the edifice but united to each other, upholding each other, we reflect the goodness and beauty of God.
It’s true that God has given each of us wonderful gifts. But these gifts don’t work in isolation. There are some things that we simply cannot do on our own, and that’s exactly the way God planned it. He wants us to learn how to interact with—and depend on—each other. Our fallen nature tells us that we are self-sufficient, but God’s word tells us something very different: “There are many parts, yet one body… . You are Christ’s body” (1 Corinthians 12:20,27).
How does this passage speak to you? If you are already a part of a ministry or faith group, maybe God is thanking you for your commitment and encouraging you to stay with it. If you feel somewhat disconnected from the church, maybe the Spirit is calling you to take one more step to become more engaged. Just as God has a plan for you personally, he has a plan for you as part of his body!
“Lord, thank you for calling me to be part of your magnificent body of believers! Help me to appreciate my brothers and sisters in the faith. Help me to love and serve them by the power of your Spirit.”
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