Gospel
MT 10:1-7
Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus.
Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
"Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
Reflection:
"As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
Have you heard this Bible verse before? I have many many times. Do you know what it means? I honestly thought I knew what it meant. I use to think that this just literally meant that as we live our life, Jesus wants us to share the gospel by letting everyone know we are preparing our lives today for when we die and see the Kingdom of heaven. Well, there is much more to this statement from Jesus. Just take the words Kingdom of Heaven and look up how many times that statement is made in the Bible. At my last count, I had found 45 different places where Kingdom of Heaven was referred to in the Bible. There may be more.
I found a homily of Father Michael’s on Youtube with a different instance where the Kingdom of heaven was mentioned. I found it very informative. Here is the video:
Father Michael shared in this video, the 7 levels of being. He also shared about his priesthood and the work he does as a Redemptorist priest. He explains the Kingdom of Heaven in a beautiful way.
As PAPA (Priest Always Prayer Apostolate) our mission is to “Go and make disciples of all nations; behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18, 20
This is the Lord’s mandate to all of us, we are just carrying out this call through PAPA by praying for priests and sharing our prayer with everyone we can so they can pray priests to be holy also.
Here is the link for our PAPA Prayer for Priests. Please take a moment to pray for a priest to be holy.
May God bless us all!
