Today's Reflections
The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry
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Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21
1Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, 3I
too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to
write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus,
4so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.
14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. 15He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.
16He
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 17and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:/ 18“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,/ 19and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”/ 20Rolling
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. 21He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Reflection:
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives.
The Lord Jesus presents himself in his inaugural speech, declaring his
program as a liberator. And that is how he appears in the gospel of
Luke: Jesus liberates people from their sicknesses, from religious
ignorance, from fear, from sin, and even from death. He knows that you
and I are in need of liberation, and he has come to set us free by the
power of the Spirit of God.
Do
we allow Jesus to free us from the things that enslave or limit us? If
we submit to Christ, we shall experience the freedom of the children of
God, as did Mary Magdalene, Paul, Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Charles
de Foucauld, and many other saints and blesseds. It is true, though,
that like St. Augustine, we put off allowing Christ to free us. We say
to Christ, “Yes, Lord… but not yet!”
Once
we have experienced the freedom that God gives, we should then, like
Jesus, also help set others free. The test of the genuineness of our
conversion to Christ and our experience of freedom is our eagerness to
help others experience what we have experienced.
“It is unthinkable that a person should believe
the word and submit himself to the kingdom
without becoming a person who bears witness
to it and proclaims it in his turn”
(Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi).
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