TODAY IS THE TIME OF GRACE

TWENTY – SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

August 30, Monday

 

      In today’s first reading Paul calms the fears of the Christian community of Thessalonica. They are expecting the return of Christ soon, in their very lifetime. Now, what about the Christians who have died before the Parousia, are they lost? No, says Paul, this makes no difference. As Christ died and rose from the dead, so those who have died will be raised up by Christ and reign with him. To them – and to us – Christ’s resurrection is the foundation of our faith.

      From now on until Advent begins, we shall read the gospel of Luke, the evangelist who pays special attention to the Holy Spirit, the mercy of God, Jesus’ special concern for the poor, the role of women in the life of Jesus, and the liturgy. Luke presents his gospel in the form of a journey from Nazareth in Galilee to Jerusalem. Today we hear about the beginning of the so-called public life of Jesus, his program set for him by the Spirit. He announces salvation as starting “today” with his teaching and working among the people. For us too, the time of grace is today, in our time, with the Lord working and living among us now.

 

First Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.

And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master’s word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.

 

Gospel: Luke 4:16-30

He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God’s Spirit is on me;
    he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
    recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
    to announce, “This is God’s year to act!”

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.”

All who were there, watching and listening, were surprised at how well he spoke. But they also said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son, the one we’ve known since he was a youngster?”

He answered, “I suppose you’re going to quote the proverb, ‘Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.’ Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn’t it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian.”

That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he gave them the slip and was on his way.

 

Prayer

God, Father of mercy and love,
you let your Son announce to us
that today is the time of grace.
Let his Spirit be upon us today,
that in the poverty of our own hearts
we may hear Jesus’ stirring message,
that blind as we are, he may give us eyes of faith,
and that he may set us free
from the captivity of our fears and selfishness.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.

Reflection:

Keep a small Gospel in your pocket and read from it every day

Luke was writing for a community of Gentile converts. The arguments among the various groups of Judaism mattered little to them. Pharisees were not actual opponents, merely figures from a distant past. Luke presents Jesus beginning his Mission from his home turf – to people whom he knew and they were amazed of the words he spoke. “Look at him, How good, this boy whom we know, how good he has become! But where must he have studied?”. Jesus’ native people admired him, but they could not accept that he was capable of interpreting the Word of God. They became furious and wanted even to kill him – because the Word of God is different from the word of man. The Word of God exposes their sinfulness and infidelity and they felt offended. Jesus was giving them a warning – that they were falling into the same trap as it happened with their forefathers who killed the prophets. God was present in their midst through the prophets, but the people of God refused to accept them – God’s mercy and providence was experienced not by any of the chosen people of God, but by a pagan soldier and by a despised widow. In the same way, Jesus – God the Son himself is physically present amidst them now, but they refuse to accept him. We would find a continuation of this rejection of God and God’s Word in the whole Scriptures. Jesus the Word of God was rejected and killed; most of his disciples and apostles were martyred – for the sake of God’s word; This hatred for Christ and his Word still continues in the world. It becomes so important, to ask ourselves: “How do we receive the Word of God?”. The response is clear: “As one receives Jesus Christ. The Church tells us that Jesus is present in the Scripture, in His Word”. Pope Francis has advised us many times to always carry a small Gospel with us — it costs little to buy it, to keep it in our purse, in our pocket, and read a passage from the Gospel during the day. He said, “this is a little practical advice, not so much to learn something, but mostly to find Jesus, because Jesus is in His Word, in His Gospel. Every time we read the Gospel, we find Jesus.” As Jesus is present in the Word of God, and He speaks to us in the Word of God, it will do us good to ask ourselves: How do I receive the Word of God?

Video available on Youtube:  Keep a small Gospel in your pocket and read from it every day