Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 385

The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John...

If, as Tip O'Neal said, "All politics is local," we might add, "All religion is personal." The evangelists carefully gave us lists of the names of the twelve apostles. If their several lists of names don't entirely agree, we're nonetheless assured that the names belonged to real people who lived, loved the Lord, and died in his service.

Nor did these apostles hand out flyers, publish books, or posts on social media; they spoke directly, face to face, as they announced the Good News to friends and strangers. But they never met a stranger, for everyone was welcomed to know the Lord and his saving grace. 

A society that atomizes populations, that insists that every individual human being exists apart and separately, and should seek their own "personal salvation," creates mechanisms to keep them apart. And so it believes that "virtual" groups of people can be a community. We hear of "the gay community" or of "artistic communities" although the members have little in common beyond a single, self-identified characteristic. Often these "communities" are simply like-minded preferences with little investment. They can appear or vanish overnight by the whims of the Internet. 

The Gospel doesn't form communities like that. Rather, it bonds men, women, and families together in a mutually supportive system by their love of God and their willingness to sacrifice, suffer, and die for the Love of Jesus Christ. Membership is a communal event as individuals join and are embraced by the members. If one suffers, all suffer; if one is honored, all are honored. 

Their common beliefs are intensely personal; their doctrines are more than bias or opinion. They are revealed by the Lord, and are accepted as eagerly as we accept one another. We study them continually, and often realize they demand more sacrifice than we are making. And yet they fill us with delight. 

The Church remembers the Twelve Apostles as martyrs. As they spread the good word from India to Spain none expected to die naturally of old age. They expected and sought the privilege of dying as worthily as their Master had died, and were given the crown of martyrdom. As Catholics we should never forget the cost and privilege of our apostolic faith.