Thursday After Epiphany

 

GOD’S WORD FULFILLED TODAY

 

Introduction

Speaking in the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus says that God’s word is fulfilled today, that he proclaims and is the good news of joy to everyone.

Similarly, Jesus proclaims to us today in our Eucharistic assemblies the good news of God’s liberating love, and he is himself that good news, for he is present among us. This Eucharist is for us here today the moment of grace. The Spirit of Jesus rests on us now and gives us the capacity to speak and to be his message of hope, joy and love to our neighbor.

 

Opening Prayer

Lord God, loving Father,
here in this Eucharistic assembly
you let your Son speak to us today
his stirring word of hope and joy.
Pour out on us the Spirit of Jesus,
let him open us to the word of your Son
and to his living presence,
that we too may go out to our brothers and sisters
to speak to them his liberating word,
to be his healing presence,
and to be grace to all whom we encounter,
on account of your Son in our midst,
Jesus Christ, our Lord for ever.

 

Reading 1: 1 Jn 4:19–5:4

Beloved, we love God because
he first loved us.
If anyone says, “I love God,”
but hates his brother, he is a liar;
for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.
This is the commandment we have from him:
Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God,
and everyone who loves the Father
loves also the one begotten by him.
In this way we know that we love the children of God
when we love God and obey his commandments.
For the love of God is this,
that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome,
for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.
And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 72:1-2, 14 and 15bc, 17

(see 11)  Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
From fraud and violence he shall redeem them,
and precious shall their blood be in his sight.
May they be prayed for continually;
day by day shall they bless him.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

 

Alleluia: Lk 4:18

Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor
and to proclaim liberty to captives.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel: Lk 4:14-22

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,
and news of him spread throughout the whole region.
He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.

He 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.

 

Intercessions

–         Lord, give courage and eloquence to all teachers in the Church, that they may help us understand your word and proclaim it as good news to all, we pray:

–         Lord, open our eyes to the miseries of people; make us concerned about those imprisoned in their fears and in the grip of injustice. Help us to bring them liberation, we pray:

–         Lord, make us receptive to your word. Free us from banality and fear, from our self-security and certainties. Let your word of freedom be fulfilled in us today, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Invisible God of people,
you let your Son ask of us today
to make your gratuitous love visible
in a world filled with fear.
Give us Jesus to eat and to drink,
that we may overcome
the forces of evil in and around us.
Let his self-sacrificing love,
his gentleness and loyalty
become flesh and blood in us
and brighten this world,
because you loved us first
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord God, loving Father,
this Eucharistic celebration has been for us
a moment of grace.
We thank you for opening our eyes and ears
that we, in our turn,
may be to the deaf and the blind your message of joy.
We thank you for liberating us
to bring your freedom to those captive
of their fears and our own inhumanity.
All this you have made possible
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Blessing

We will make the message of our Lord Jesus Christ good news of hope and joy only if the Spirit of truth and love speaks in our words and if then we commit ourselves to what we say, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

 

Proclaim the Year of Lord’s Favour

We have the habit of making New Year resolutions of various kinds: – to lose weight, to start a new exercise program, to be more organized. I have made a lot of these resolutions in the past. My experience is that by the end of the first week of the year – we are in that period of time right now – I perhaps would have started to be a bit less resolved in those noble pursuits.

Today’s Gospel offers a way to refocus on our resolutions. Jesus has been moving about and preaching in Galilee and gained immense popularity. Now he returns to his home in Nazareth and is in the synagogue there. He must have been a bit nervous. Familiar faces can calm our fears, but they also can cause us additional pressures – remember the saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt”! Jesus did not disappoint the hometown folks and offers a new road map for himself. When I preach a homily, I focus on telling my listeners what should be our course of action. But, for Jesus, after reading the scripture, he preached the shortest homily: ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’

Jesus reads words of Prophet Isaiah in the first person: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” Jesus presents himself as the Word of God and accepts the task of proclaiming the gospel to the poor. The homily he preached was a one-liner in words, but more through his life and actions. I am reminded of the famous quote from St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel at all times, when necessary, use words.”

Jesus’ mission statement contains a list that I believe can help to revive and revise my resolutions for the year. How do I proclaim an year acceptable to the Lord? What changes do I need to make? What small changes can I make that will promote love, faith and justice? The first reading gives a gentle reminder: “Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

I pray today for God’s grace to help me make my revisions to my resolutions in proclaiming my goal, of a year acceptable to the Lord.