GOSPEL
He has sent me to evangelize the poor… No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Reading from the holy Gospel according to St. Luke 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.
The Word of the Lord.
Not getting used to you.
Mismanaged trust poses a serious danger, which is getting accustomed to the presence of the Beloved (with an uppercase letter) and not valuing it to the height it deserves.
We wonder today what the Lord sees from the Custody when He is exposed before us. How many lost gazes, how many distractions, how many vague thoughts jumping from one trivial theme to another without paying attention to the impressive presence of the Most High before us.
May we not get accustomed to the Beloved with an uppercase letter nor to the beloved with a lowercase letter. Grant us this grace, Lord.
Grounded in married life:
Juanjo: How many times do couples come to talk to us, each filled with mutual complaints (which are usually authentic nonsense), and they are not able to appreciate the “great” man or woman they have by their side.
Marisa: They are hearts of immense beauty and they cannot appreciate it. It makes one want to shout at them: Have you looked closely at your spouse lately?
Juanjo: How important it is to do exercises of “mutual unaccustomedness.”
I love looking back at you as if receiving a gift and unwrapping it slowly as if it were the first time.
Marisa: I love that you look at me with those eyes and make an effort to please me. It helps me a lot to recognize the impressive value that God has given you.
Mother,
May we learn to value the gift of the closeness of the Beloved with an uppercase letter and of the beloved husband who has been entrusted to me as a task. Blessed be the Lord for so much.