Luke 6:12-19 NRSVue

¹²Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. ¹³And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: ¹⁴Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, ¹⁵and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

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Some thoughts on this scripture

Reflection
Jesus, you prayed all night to prepare for this momentous decision, choosing the Twelve apostles (St Luke uses the term /apostles/ only of the Twelve whereas St Paul uses it of all preachers of the gospel). What came out of it? These Jewish workmen, without any special qualifications except the knowledge and love of you, and with no power or money to back them, went out to carry your good news to the ends of the earth. /Sacred Space/ continues that work. In the history of mankind, there has never been a mission as far-reaching or effective as this.

Reflection
Any big event in the life of Jesus was preceded by prayer. Choosing the apostles would impact on the life of his community forever. He faced the passion after prayer in the garden, and prayed during his passion. He was a man of much prayer. Time in prayer is joining in the prayer of Christ, and can help us discern what is best, most human and most loving in our lives.

Reflection
Jesus prayed before he called the twelve. We can see that he prayed often and before big decisions. When we bring our confusions and decisions to prayer, we don't get easy answers but we widen the context in which we make the most important decisions of our lives. Prayer often gives us an opportunity to put the important decisions of our lives into the context of love of God and love of our neighbour.