Teach or Learn … (Mt 10:1-7) by Paul Westendorf

08 Jul Teach or Learn … (Mt 10:1-7) by Paul Westendorf

“Jesus summoned His Twelve disciples… The names of the Twelve Apostles are these…“ ~ Mt 10:1-7 (full readings)
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Paul’s Reflections:  In the Gospel reading today, Mathew goes from mentioning the “Twelve Disciples” to “Twelve Apostles”.  Why use a different description?  Is a Disciple the same as an Apostle?  It caused me to look at the meaning of each of these words.  A Disciple is a pupil or an adherent of another, while an Apostle is one who is sent out or assigned to disseminate the teachings of the master.  Learning and teaching are clearly two different tasks.  One might think you can do one or the other, but Jesus called His Twelve to do both.  We often struggle with the “Apostle” part.  We might think, “the Bible is a big book with a lot of deep meaning; shouldn’t we just let our clergy and religious leaders do the teaching part?”, or “I’m just a simple person, I don’t have a big circle of influence.  There are better people to do this.”  Just as Jesus called His Twelve to both tasks, so we are called to learn and actively share our faith with others.  When we look at those who were chosen by Jesus, we see a diverse, interesting collection of people.  Most of them were simple or uneducated and may not have had a very high social status.  With the history of that in mind, I take comfort in knowing that when I put on my LIFE Runners gear it doesn’t matter if I see one person or several dozen.  For just as the word of Jesus spread in the early days, I know His message of Life will spread, because it is ultimately the work of God through the Holy Spirit.
* Paul Westendorf is Membership Coordinator of the National LIFE Runners Team.  His is married to Jacquie and lives in Sioux Falls, SD.   Full bio..

Faith Challenge:   Join in for prayer for the understanding of the messages of the Bible and our Religious leaders.  Pray for us all that we hear and act on our Apostolic mission as the Holy Spirit guides us.

Counter-Culture News: LifeSiteNews, LifeNews, American Family, Vatican, Project Rachel..
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Our Prayers: Pray LIFE Runners Creed to End Abortion.  Add Prayers. Pray with meals, bedtime, wake up, unceasingly. Consider mid-week Family Rosary (17 min). Let’s pray now.
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Feast Day:  St. Gregory Grassi
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Faith Quote:  “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

Through Christ our Lord,
Paul
Jer 1:5