Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damien, Syrian martyrs (+303ca). The tradition remembers them as doctors who took care of the sick for free. Special memory of those who dedicate their lives to the treatment and healing of the sick.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 9,1-6
He called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He said to them, 'Take nothing for the journey: neither staff, nor haversack, nor bread, nor money; and do not have a spare tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there; and when you leave let your departure be from there. As for those who do not welcome you, when you leave their town shake the dust from your feet as evidence against them.' So they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and healing everywhere.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The evangelist Luke tells how the twelve were sent to proclaim the kingdom of God and heal the sick. Jesus had already chosen them to be with him (Lk 6:12-16) and now he sends them to carry out his mission, giving them his own authority and power. The evangelist writes, he "gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases." The preaching of the Kingdom of God, the new world that God was bringing into existence through Jesus' deeds, had to be accompanied by signs that demonstrated its power. This is a paradigm that accompanies the work of the disciples of every age, including today. Every Christian community and every disciple is called to join the long line of followers of Jesus to fight the same battle against the power of evil and communicate the Gospel of love everywhere, to the ends of the earth. This mission requires us to strip ourselves of our desire to be the centre of attention in order to become servants of the Gospel in everything, with the same missionary eagerness that led the Twelve to go door to door, village to village, city to city: no one was to be denied the proclamation of the Gospel. Their only wealth was the Gospel. And the Gospel was all they were supposed to communicate, in its purity, without additions or gimmicks. Jesus' disciples must know that the Gospel itself is enough: it is leavening and light that transforms. That is why Jesus orders the Twelve: "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor moneynot even an extra tunic." Their only wealth and their only power is the Gospel.