Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint 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.

He stood up

1. To bring glad tidings. Jesus has come to bring good news, because life itself is beautiful news and living is a wonderful blessing. Of course, there are difficulties and what Jesus comes to teach is that even the hardest and most difficult moments can be overcome, that even if they destroy you, you can rise again and even if they throw you down, you can rise again. He comes to remind us that we humans forget to look to heaven because we dwell on earth too much, and that even those of us who think we are very religious end up ignoring God himself. The good news is that there is always a new possibility if you decide to open yourself to God.

2. Liberty.  To be free does not mean to do what you want, but rather to do what you must. But added to that, being free means having the greatest power a person can have, “to choose”. This allows you to have the understanding that your life has a meaning. Jesus came to remind you that a person can’t be tied to another person, much less to an institution or a program, because God himself came to remind you that even He respects your freedom. Religion didn’t come to bind you, but to set you free. Don’t accept things that enslave you and don’t generate things in your life that enslave others. Whoever is free loves, and whoever loves is free.

3. Look intently. The way to live life is to see the whole of it, not to remain focused on parts. Because your life did not start today, there is a story, with good things and bad things. The key is to understand that everything is part of the same path, and that path is happiness, that, for us, is holiness.  

Remember something good is on the way! 

God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.