Tuesday of the 23rd week in ordinary time year A

Col. 2:6-15          Luke 6:12-19

Theme: Be prayerful

The fact that Jesus does not joke with prayer is obvious in the scripture. He takes time to go and pray before making any major decision in his life. Even with the crowd that is always around him, he will still go to a quiet place to pray. The gospel reading of today is one of the passages in the scripture where Jesus took out time to pray, before making a major decision in his life. Remember that Jesus is equally God and can decide not to pray. But he was a leader who led his people by example, what he teaches his people, harmonizes with his personal life. This goes to show us the importance of prayer in our lives as children of God. We cannot be too busy and say we do not have time to pray. Prayer is the armor of God that we always need in our lives. It is important that we make effort to be people of prayer. A prayerful Christian is a powerful Christian, always remember that in good times and in bad times and allow it to continue to inspire you.

Jesus, our Lord, and saviour has shown us the importance of prayer in our lives as children of God. If our master saw the need to take prayer seriously in his life, what would stop his follower from emulating him? The more we pray, the more we become a terror to anything that is not of God. We see how the demons recognize Christ from afar, even when those around him are still wondering about who he is. It is the same thing for Christians who are prayerful and do their best to live a good life like true children of God that we are called to be always. Even Jesus himself said that we as children of God can do greater things. This simply points out the fact that we can do the things that Jesus did while on earth, and even more. The question is whether we are ready to pay the price of discipleship, just like the twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus in today’s gospel reading did?

If we can listen and practice the admonition of St. Paul in todays 1st reading, it will go a long way in strengthening our resolve to be more prayerful. This stems from the fact that there is a better understanding of who we are called to be as children of God and followers of Christ. We are in union with God, and that fact drives us towards making honest effort to be always true ambassadors for Christ. May the Lord grant us the grace to always pray and live like true children of God that we are called to be, in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Peace be with you.

Tuesday of the 23rd week in ordinary time year A, by Fr. Jude Ifeanyi Ifezime, C.S.Sp