Sunday, January 21, 2007

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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."
Luke 4:18-21

Reflection:
Jesus, I believe shocked them in the Temple that day with that proclamation. You got to love him for speaking the Truth. "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."21 Imagine if we were to read the Scripture ourselves and come out with that, people would look at us as if we were nuts. But we read of a man who let his Divinity show and reveals his home.

Not only that he was telling them that he was the one who is bringing hope to the poor, not the one's poor in material, but those whose spirit is poor. He is telling them that he gives sight to the blind, physically as well as spiritually. He frees them from captivity, where their souls were held bound by evil.

When Jesus read this particular Scripture passage, it was amazing for him since he was doing exactly as the passage foretold. He had every right to declare it has come to be fulfilled through him. And it was, since he did all that is mentioned.

Can we do the same when we read Scripture, proclaim it our message that it is being fulfilled through us. We are all part of one body, but our measurement is not all the same either. Some have gifts that surpass all others while even those with minimal are not excluded. We all have a purpose in the Body of Christ. When we look at our own bodies, each part is useful even the one's we don't think so. Our toes have a purpose to help us stand. Every part was made specifically by God, even when it's mismatched or missing.

Since the Church is founded on people, we are the body and each one of us has a purpose in it. Never think that being part of the Church is useless or that you are not needed because there are so many to do the job. Each one of us has the purpose to speak about faith and teach those who do not know faith at all.

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