GOSPEL

He chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles.  
Reading from the holy Gospel according to St. Luke 6:12-19  

Jesus went up to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,
Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples, with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon

who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured,

and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.

Word of the Lord.  

They do not nullify your dignity.

What attracts people to Jesus the most is the mercy of God. The more aware we are of our need for Him, the more “interest” arises to draw closer to Him. Then love will come because the one who has been forgiven much loves much.

The Lord, like in the story of the Prodigal Son, does not see our sins but our wasted dignity, and He comes to restore it and to give us back the dignity of children who are admitted once again into the Father’s house. But mercy is not only compassion; it is also bringing good out of all evil. And that is what Jesus does. Blessed mercy of God that recovers us in our lost dignity. What good do I draw from the evil of my husband? How do I collaborate to restore his wasted dignity?

Grounded in Married Life:

Carlos: What allows you to love me in the moments when I am not loving you?

Sonia: For me, it is looking to the Lord, delving into His Heart, and acting as He would out of love for Him. And you, what gives you strength?

Carlos: For me, after the Lord has shown me your worth in prayer, the value of your soul, and what you are called to be, the desire to give myself to you calls me. In those moments, I continue to see the enormous value you have and the immense good you are simply for being loved by God for who you are. Your sins do not take that away from you. Your sins do not nullify your dignity as a daughter of God. That is why it is worth it to commit myself to your salvation, to pay for your sins and bear the consequences, as Christ did for you in Gethsemane. As I am a part of Him, I must do the same.

Sonia: How beautiful, because in the end, we both draw good from each other’s evil. I find refuge in the Heart of the Lord that protects me from a bad gaze, and you lean on the value that God has conferred upon me.

Carlos: That is what true help is called, from one to the other.

Mother,

Before sin, love turns into mercy. We are sinners; therefore, we can only be united by the merciful love of Jesus. Blessed be He forever.