We begin today the second of the five discourses of Jesus which are a unique feature of Matthew's gospel. It consists of instructions to Jesus' disciples on how they are to conduct their missionary work and the reactions they can expect in carrying it out. It begins by the summoning of the inner circle of twelve disciples. These twelve disciples are now called apostles. They are not just followers of Jesus; they are now called to share actively in his mission. We too have the same vocation. It is very easy for us to see ourselves, 'ordinary' Catholics, as disciples and to regard priests and religious as doing the apostolic work of the Church. That would be very wrong. Every one of us called to be a disciple is eo ipso, in virtue of Baptism and Confirmation, also called to be an apostle. In fact, it is interesting to see the mixed group of people that Jesus chose. They were for the most part simple people, some of them definitely uneducated and perhaps even illiterate. Judas may well have been the most qualified among them. And yet we see the extraordinary results they produced and the unstoppable movement they set in motion. Each one of us, in our own way, is called on to continue that tradition.