The Synaxis of the Holy, Glorious and All-Praiseworthy Twelve Apostles
1 Corinthians 4:9-16; Mark 3:13-19
Read Mark 3:13-19
When the Lord called these Twelve to be His disciples, they were appointed to be sent to preach the Good News and to heal. They were to imitate exactly what the Lord was doing. They were to be resolute in these responsibilities – seeking and revealing the Kingdom. Everything else was to be of secondary importance.
As baptised Christians, seeking and revealing the Kingdom of God is the first duty in our lives as well. One of my favourite authors has penned the following on this duty.
The Duty of the Moment
by Catherine Doherty
All through my childhood and early youth I was indoctrinated with the fact that the duty of the moment was the duty of God.
When I was fairly little I thought God was right by my side, embroidering or whatever. Later, I still believed that the duty of the moment was the duty God gave me. God speaks to us, then, in the duty of every moment.
As this duty of the moment is the will of the Father, we must give our whole self to that. When we do so, we can be certain that we are living in the truth, and hence in love, and hence in Christ.
Doing the duty of the moment means focusing our whole person—heart, soul, body, emotions, intellect, memory, imagination— on the job at hand.
The duty of the moment done for God is glamorous, exciting, wondrous—if only we can see it for what it truly is! But we are human. And it takes a long time, my dearly beloved ones, to see reality through God’s eyes. Unless we pray exceedingly hard, it takes a long time. But—with prayer—we see an entirely different world about us! Cleaning the house becomes a joy. Washing dishes becomes an exciting challenge. Careful, repetitious tasks take on new meaning. Whatever your tasks are, they take on new meaning.
Excerpted from Grace in Every Season, (2001) available from MH Publications