Tuesday of the 23rd OT B

Apostles are the foundation of the Church

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

The evangelist St. Luke narrates Jesus’ calling of the Apostles, “he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles”. The twelve were chosen from amongst a larger community of disciples. They were commissioned, as we read at the end of the Gospel of Mathew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. We know from the Acts of the Apostles and extra-biblical history that the Apostles traveled the known world and beyond; St. Thomas went to India, St. Paul went to Anatolia, Greece and Italy, etc. The apostles became the foundations of the Church as is eluded to in the book of Revelation “ And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. “

19 ¶ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ”

Today, the Bishops are the successors to the Apostles. His Excellency Douglas Crosby, our Bishop, can trace his succession back to a Apostle. St. Clement of Rome wrote “The Apostles have preached the Gospel to us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ was sent by God. Christ, therefore was sent forth by God, and the Apostles by Christ” (The Apostles, Pope Benedict, Our Sunday Visitor, 35). The faith passed down to us, tradition comes through the Apostles. Pope Benedict describes this tradition as “the living river that links us to the origins, the living water in which the origins are ever present, the great river that leads us to the gates of eternity”. (Benedict, 30).

Let us daily prayer for our Bishop, His Excellency Douglas Crosby, and all bishops, that they may be faithful stewards of God’s people and lead us to closer to God and eternal salvation.