Today, we may contemplate a full day in the life of Jesus. A life with two clear complimentary forces: prayer and action. If, as Christians, we are to imitate Jesus' life, we cannot miss either of these two dimensions. All Christians have certain moments for praying and certain others for action, even those who are consecrated to a contemplative life. The length of time for each one may, of course, vary. We can see that even friars and nuns in closed orders devote a good part of their time to some kind of work. On the other hand, those of us who are more secular, if we wish to imitate Jesus, we should not carry out an important activity without first covering it with prayer. St. Jerome says: “Even though the Apostle ordered us to pray all the time… we must devote to this exercise certain previously determined hours.”

Did Jesus need these lengthy hours of lonely prayer, when everyone else was asleep? Theologians study the psychology of Jesus man: up to which point had He direct access to Divinity and up to which point was He “one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin” (He 4:15). Insofar as we consider Him closer to us, His praying practice will be an exceptional example for us.

Once our praying is well-established, all that remains is for us to imitate Him in action. In today's fragment, we can see Him “organizing the Church,” that is, choosing those who were to be His future evangelists, the followers of His mission on earth: “When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles” (Lk 6:13). Later on, we find Him healing all types of sicknesses; the Evangelist says: “Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.” (Lk 6:19). In order for our identification with Him to be complete, we must remain in Him so that we can bear plenty of fruit (cf. Jn 15:4). Then it may be possible that this power to heal everyone also comes forth from us.