The appointed Gospel reading
for the Daily Prayer of the Church is taken from the sixth chapter of Luke
where we hear about Jesus calling the first disciples:
Now
during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night
in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve
of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his
brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew,
and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and
Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
He 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. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the
crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of
them.
Then he
looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours
is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be
filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when
people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on
account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely
your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the
prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe
to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing
now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to
you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the
false prophets. (Lk. 6. 12-26).
Jesus picks his 12 disciples
only after he has prayed. How many times have you prayed before a big decision?
Often when we pray we do a little too much talking. Prayer also, and perhaps more importantly, involves
listening. It is in the silence that we
hear God. When you pray, take time to
listen to what God is saying to you.
Listen for God whisper of God’s voice.
CALENDAR
REMINDERS
3rdAnnual
St. Augustine’s BBQ, Saturday, 27 April 2013. Here is a link to the Houston
Press’s article about the upcoming event: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/
Adult
Christian Education: The Resurrection by Bishop N.T. Wright. Join us at 11:00
a.m. on Sunday mornings as we explore the ideas of the afterlife in the ancient
world, what people during the time of Christ believed, what the reality of the
Resurrection means for us as Christians.
Please
remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Caroline Furlong as she
grieves the death of her husband, Randy, and for all of Randy’s family; we pray
for Lou, Virginia, Hal, Hazel, all of the victims of the bombings in Boston and
the victims of the explosion in West.
Your servant in Christ,
The Rev. Chester J.
Makowski+
St.
Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church Galveston, Texas 77550
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