Lectionary: 431
Reading 1
1 cor 2:1-5
When I came to you, brothers and sisters,
proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.
Responsorial Psalm
ps 119:97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102
R. (97) Lord, I love your commands.
How I love your law, O LORD!
It is my meditation all the day.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
Your command has made me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
I have more understanding than all my teachers
when your decrees are my meditation.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
I have more discernment than the elders,
because I observe your precepts.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
From every evil way I withhold my feet,
that I may keep your words.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
From your ordinances I turn not away,
for you have instructed me.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
Gospel
lk 4:16-30
Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll,
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”
He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb,
‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’”
And he said,
“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
REFLECTION
SOURCE: One Bread One Body
THEME: "RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT" (Jn 20:22)
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; therefore He has anointed Me." –Luke 4:18
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Jesus, and He wants to lavish the Spirit on us (Ti 3:6) in an unrationed way (Jn 3:34). However, to receive the Spirit and grow in the Spirit, we must repent. At the first Christian Pentecost, Peter proclaimed: "You must repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that your sins may be forgiven; then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38, our transl).
The people of Jesus' home town, Nazareth, missed the opportunity to receive the Spirit by refusing to repent of not accepting Him (see Lk 4:24ff). The Corinthians had received every gift of the Spirit (1 Cor 1:7), but they did not grow in the Spirit because they refused to continue to repent more and more deeply. They remained infants in Christ (1 Cor 3:1). Life in the Spirit, and continued, deeper life in the Spirit are based on deeper repentance.
When preparing for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, Pope John Paul II proclaimed: "The Church cannot prepare for the new millennium 'in any other way than in the Holy Spirit' " (Towards The New Millennium, 44, emphasis his). Repent and receive the Holy Spirit in a life-changing and world-renewing way. Then let the Holy Spirit convict you of sin (Jn 16:8), lead you to deeper repentance, and fill you as never before.
PRAYER: Father, make me a disciple of the Holy Spirit.
PROMISE: "My message and my preaching had none of the persuasive force of 'wise' argumentation, but the convincing power of the Spirit." –1 Cor 2:4
PRAISE: Belinda had a tubal ligation. Years later, she repented and expressed it by adopting a baby girl.
Be an inspiration, kindly Share.
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