Why only twelve disciples? Go out and get thousands.
It is not every man that can afford to wear a shabby coat; and worldly wisdom dictates to her disciples the propriety of dressing somewhat beyond their means, but of living somewhat within them,--for every one, sees how we dress, but none see how we live, except we choose to let them. But the truly great are, by universal suffrage, exempted from these trammels, an may live or dress as they please.
I'm getting very sorry for the Devil and his disciples such as the good Le Chiffre. The devil has a rotten time and I always like to be on the side of the underdog. We don't give the poor chap a chance. . . the Devil had no prophets to write his Ten Commandments and no team of authors to write his biography.
They would have to sing better songs for me to learn to have faith in their Redeemer; and his disciples would have to look more redeemed!
A good teacher always refuses to have disciples! Let everyone goes his own way, in his own path instead of following others! If the direction is correct, there will be a meeting in the same place!
Why make disciples? Because heaven and hell exist, and the end of the world is coming.
Theology is faith seeking understanding, but understanding is more than theoretical. If we really grasp who and where we are as disciples, we should know how to live out our faith.
That's the secret of Jesus. You watch Jesus and you see he never did "withdraw" and then "attack. " All of the time people wanted him to do it and in many ways, but he would not. Then to the body of believers he said, "This will show everyone that you are my disciples, if you love one another," but he had already said, "Love one another as I have loved you. " So that's the model.
When we become incorruptible and immortal and attain to the blessed state of conformity with Christ, we will be ever with the Lord, gaining fulfillment in the purest contemplations of His visible theophany which will illuminate us with its most brilliant rays, just as it illuminated the disciples at the time of the most divine Transfiguration. This is the light of God, as St. John has said in his Revelation (Rev. 22:5), and such is the opinion of all the saints.
Discipleship is the art and science of helping people find, follow and fully become like Jesus. Discipleship happens as God's people show love, share truth and live life with one another, making new disciples along the way.
They [the disciples] were testifying to the resurrection, a question of fact, not merely of faith. They were convinced of an event. And their willingness to die for attesting to that event is far more convincing that the willingness of others to die for a mere belief or because of loyalty to a religion or religious leader.
The study of the properties of numbers, Plato tells us, habituates the mind to the contemplation of pure truth, and raises us above the material universe. He would have his disciples apply themselves to this study, not that they may be able to buy or sell, not that they may qualify themselves to be shopkeepers or travelling merchants, but that they may learn to withdraw their minds from the ever-shifting spectacle of this visible and tangible world, and to fix them on the immutable essences of things.
God has entrusted us with his most precious treasure - people. He asks us to shepherd and mold them into strong disciples, with brave faith and good character.
The simplest way of becoming his light is by being kind and loving, thoughtful, and sincere with others: 'By this they will know that you are his disciples. '
Being a Christian does not mean that there is one way of living a Christian life, people do it differently in different cultures because they have different interpretations, that's how it should be. The disciples had arguments with Jesus! It is about listening to one another, and respecting one another with those differences.
We have to assess: Are we making disciples along the way as we draw people to our churches?
Every church needs to be able to answer two questions. First, what is our plan for making disciples? And second, does our plan work?
Christ had a specific evangelizing goal in mind when he prayed at the Last Supper that all his disciples 'be one. . . 'The Church's evangelizing mission, therefore, moves along the path of ecumenism, the path of unity of faith, of evangelical witness and authentic fraternity.
. . . bear with him as Our Lord bore with His disciples, who gave Him good reason to complain - at least, some of them did. Yet, He allowed them to remain in His company and tried to bring them around gently.
The most heaven-like spots I have ever visited, have been certain rooms in which Christ's disciples were awaiting the summons of death. So far from being a "house of mourning," I have often found such a house to be a vestibule of glory.