Friday, January 23, 2004
2nd Week in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: 1S 24:3-21
Gospel: Mk 3:13-19

Jesus went up into the hill country and called those he wanted and they came to him. So he appointed twelve to be with him; and he called them apostles. He wanted to send them out to preach, and he gave them authority to drive out demons.

These are the Twelve: Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John his brother, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, which means "men of thunder"; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

Commentary

SOMETIMES I have to scratch my head to think what to say to you about the day's reading. When nothing comes I begin to look for "polarities": opposites that make the text somehow three-dimensional and rising off the page. What caught my eye in this reading was the polarity of "to be with him" and "to send them out." If he wanted them to be with him, why did he send them out?
Mark often uses this phrase "to be with (him)"-2:19; 4:36; 5:18; 14:14, 67; 15:41. It is said to be almost his definition of discipleship. Peter was Mark's source, and Peter wrote about the time "when we were with him on the holy mountain" (2P 1:18). In today's reading, too, it is a mountain (well a hill). To be a disciple is to be with him on the holy mountain of prayer and meditation. But neither he nor they stayed forever on the mountain; they "went out" to the whole world. Every disciple is called not only to be with him but to go out to others. Prayer and action, said St. Catherine of Siena, are like our two feet: we need them both if we are to follow the Way.

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