Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Luke 9: 1-6
To be a disciple is to heal

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gathers the Twelve and sends them out with a mission: to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal. This scene reminds us that to be a disciple is never a solitary experience.

He summons. Jesus calls, gathers, and unites. Every day He calls you by name—sometimes in prayer, sometimes in the midst of work, sometimes in the quiet of the evening. Discipleship is not about walking alone or shining as a star. Jesus reminds us that we belong to a team, his team, the Church. Each of us is different, with our own gifts and weaknesses, but together we are one in Him, and one for others.

He gives power. The authority Jesus gives is not the power of command or privilege, but the power to serve. It is the power to heal wounds, to restore dignity, to lift up the discouraged, to bring hope where there is despair. True Christian power is not about being treated as important—it is about bending down to wash the feet of others. That is the power Christ shares with His disciples.

He provides. Jesus tells his disciples to take nothing for the journey. Why? To teach us to rely on God’s providence. And how true this is in our lives: along the road of discipleship, God always sends people to walk with us—friends, companions, even strangers who become angels in flesh and blood. He never abandons us.

To be a disciple, then, is to hear His call, to live in communion, to serve with love, and to trust in His providence. And above all, it is to heal: to be instruments of God’s mercy in a world so wounded.

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Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025