THE WORD OF GOD AND HIS FAVOUR UPON YOU NOW
Blessed 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time to you. Today the Church celebrates Sunday of the Word of God. May God’s Word enlighten & strengthen you as you celebrate the Eucharist & read the scriptures regularly.
Today’s Mass Readings call out attention to God’s Law & His Word. In the 1st Reading from Nehemiah 8:2-6,8-10, we hear how Ezra, the priest & scribe in Judah, brought the Law (Torah) before the assembly & set out at length to read the Law, interpret the Word & give the meaning & sense to the people. The assembly, moved by the Lord’s Word (as mentioned in the text) ‘raised their hands and answered “Amen! Amen”, then they bowed down and face to the ground, prostrated themselves before the Lord’ (cf Nehemiah 8:6,8). Indeed, the people loved, treasured & reverenced the Word of God. Can we Catholics, like the Jews of old, likewise love & embrace God’s Word during the Liturgy of the Word in every Eucharistic celebration?
In our Gospel reading from Luke 4:1-4,14-21, St Luke the Evangelist also sets out to teach his audience through his writings (in the Gospel of Luke & the Acts of the Apostles). Today, he recounts the holy & perfect Eternal High Priest, the Word (Logos) Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, reading & teaching from the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 61, Verses 1-2. What Jesus read was ‘The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour’ (cf Luke 4:18-19). Then Jesus gave this glorious teaching statement: ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen’ (cf Luke 4:21).
Just pause a while, be still & quieten your heart for just a few moments & let what Jesus said cause your hearts to burn within you with joy & gratitide, like it did for the disciples who encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus (cf Luke 24:32).
Are you ‘poor’ & suffering any form of scarcity or lack – finances, health, peace of mind, loneliness, broken relationships? Jesus brings you good news today – you are loved by God & blessed by Him! Are you held in ‘captivity’ & imprisoned by your fears, doubts, sins, unforgiveness & limiting beliefs? Christ is proclaiming liberty & freedom to you! Are you downtrodden – oppressed, persecuted, discriminated against, bullied, rejected & treated unfairly? Jesus is telling you that no matter what, He is always for you, never against you, & He will work all things out for your good! Are you having a bad year, had a bad 2024, or a challenging decade or even a lifetime of troubles, sadness & failures? Well then, this is the year of the Lord’s favour. It may not look like it – but believe it & trust that the Lord is fulfilling the text of scripture right now!
What a wonderful time it is right now to live & experience fully the Jubilee 2025. God’s graces, mercy, redemption & restoration in this Holy Year as proclaimed by Jesus above is already upon you. So, what should we SAY to Jesus today? I propose that the Response in today’s Responsorial Psalm ‘Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life’ (cf John 6:63) be our joyful & faith-filled expression of our trust in Jesus, of our conviction of the power of His Word, as so wonderfully declared in the verses of the Psalm from Psalm 19. Then I suggest that we DO what St Paul teaches in today’s 2nd Reading from 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 – that we live our lives as a part of the Mystical Body of Christ, nourished & refreshed by the Holy Spirit, gifted with different charisms (like wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, prophecy etc – from 1 Corinthians 12:8-10) & using them to build up the Body & serve all with great love. Finally, we FEEL this incredible sense of Hope (our Jubilee theme of ‘Pilgrims of Hope’), the Joy of the Lord, that is our strength (cf Nehemiah 8:10) & the Everlasting Love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (cf Romans 5:5).
Here's an evergreen hymn to seal today’s reflection – “Go Tell Everyone”. Sing it with me, now brothers & sisters! 1…2…3… “God’s Spirit is in my heart …”
https://youtu.be/9VTQvYG-bl4?si=QLaWHyBohHmmkqa6
Article by Damian Boon, HFC Blog Team Lead