Tuesday Of the Twenty-Third Week In Ordinary Time

Chosen to be with Him

Liturgical Cycle: C | Lectionary Cycle: I

Introduction

The community of the Christians of Colossae was threatened with deviations from pagan philosophies and Jewish practices. In the very dense and rich passage of today, Paul insists that all that counts is Christ; we live in him through baptism, and die and rise with him.

As in other very important occasions in his life, Jesus prays before selecting twelve apostles from among his disciples. For this is a very important moment. He will train them and then will take the risk of entrusting his own work to fallible people. He knows they will not always do the best they can, as they will have moments of fear, discouragement, cowardice and compromises. Still, he trusts them enough and will help them to bring his work to a good end in God’s own good time. In this Eucharist, we express our trust in the Church of Jesus Christ.

Opening Prayer

Almighty God, and Father,
in one of us, your Son Jesus Christ,
is found the fullness of what you are,
and which we can only stammer and surmise
in our inadequate human thoughts and words.
Root us and build us up in Christ;
liberate us from all forms of alienation
and let us share in his new humanity,
that we may live the life
of Jesus Christ our Lord.

First Reading

Colossians 2:6-15

Christian Life

If you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, let him be your doctrine.

Be rooted and built up in him; let faith be your principle, as you were taught, and let your thanksgiving overflow.

Make sure no one tricks you with philosophy or empty words; these are just human teachings, not inspired by Christ but by the wisdom of this world.

In him, the full nature of God lives in bodily form.

He is the head of all cosmic power and authority, and in him, you have everything.

In Christ Jesus, you were given a circumcision that is not performed by human hands, which completely removed the body of flesh from you:

I am referring to baptism. When you received it, you were buried with Christ; and you also rose with him because you believed in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

You were dead, trapped in sin and uncircumcised. But God gave you life through Christ. He forgave all our sins.

He canceled the record of our debts, those regulations that accused us. He removed all of that and nailed it to the cross.

Through the cross, he defeated the rulers and authorities, humbling them in front of the entire world and making a public spectacle of them as prisoners.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 145:1b-2, 8-9, 10-11

R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.

Alleluia Verse

John 15:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I chose you from the world,
that you may go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Luke 6:12-19

Jesus went out into the hills to pray, spending the whole night in prayer with God.

When day arrived, 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 later become the traitor.

Coming down the hill with them, Jesus stood in an open plain. Many of his disciples were there, along with a large crowd of people from all parts of Judea, Jerusalem, and the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon.

They gathered to listen to him and to be healed of their diseases. And those troubled by unclean spirits were healed.

The entire crowd tried to touch him because of the power that flowed from him and healed everyone.

Prayers of the Faithful

– That Christ may be our model and our strength and life, we pray:

– That made one with Christ at our baptism, nothing may separate us from him, we pray:

– That we may always be joyful people, for God has chosen us to be his sons and daughters with our brother Jesus Christ, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Loving God,
what made you stoop down to us
and raise us to new life in Christ?
With these gifts of bread and wine
we offer you our thanks and praise your name.
Help us to live his life to the full,
aware as we are of our own limitations
but relying on the power of your love
and on the presence among us
of him who is your image and fullness,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
in baptism you have implanted us
in your Son Jesus Christ;
you have spoken to us in this eucharist
of his greatness and his work of love,
by which he reconciled us with you.
Let us share in his life,
and fill us with his strength,
that we may learn from him
to be great by serving
and to live by dying to ourselves.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.

Blessing

“Continue to live your lives in Christ Jesus the Lord, rooted and built up in him. You were buried with him in baptism; you were raised with him through faith. God made you alive together with him.” Stay in him with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Luke 6:12-19

Chosen to be with Him

When we read the Gospel, we see Jesus choosing His apostles. And the first reason is simple but profound: He wanted them to be with Him (cf. Mk 3:14). Jesus did not call them first to do things, but to live in friendship with Him. It is beautiful to think that the Son of God desired the closeness of friends, that He needed hearts to walk with Him. God, who is Father, is not content until every child has returned home.

Jesus could have left us a book or a system of ideas, but He chose instead to write His message in the lives of men and women. They became His “living books.” This reminds us that Christianity is not a theory but a life shared. To be a disciple means to be a learner—always learning from the Lord, always listening more deeply to His Word, until the day we meet Him face to face.

And then Jesus made them apostles—sent ones, ambassadors. A Christian is never only for himself; he is always sent. We are called to represent Christ, not only with our words but with our lives, our gestures, our mercy. A child once called the apostles “Jesus’ samples.” Yes! Every Christian is meant to be a living sample of Christ.

But notice this: those Jesus chose were not extraordinary men. They were fishermen, tax collectors, and even enemies in society’s eyes. Yet Jesus united them, Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot, men who should have hated each other. Only Christ can make such opposites live together in peace. This is His miracle—turning division into communion.

Let us ask ourselves: Am I living as His friend? Am I letting my life become His message? Am I an ambassador of His love where I live?