Monday of the Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: 1Cor. 2:1-5 | Ps. 119:97-102 | Lk. 4:16-30
Jesus comes to His own town and according to his custom went to the synagogue to pray. He opens the scroll and reads the passage from Isaiah where it says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me: …to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set oppressed free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” If you heard these words would you be impressed? Would you want to be a part of this person’s group to accomplish these things? Would it depend upon who the speaker is? What kind of person he is? What kind of education he has? What credentials he holds? That is what took place in the synagogue. The people liked his words at first; but, when they realized Jesus’ background, they did not accept him.
Take time today to pray with these words. Ask God for the grace to see if there is anyone in your life whom you refuse to listen to just because they are too well known by you or don’t hold all the specifications listed above. How might God be calling you to conversion? Also, do you take the words of Jesus to heart? Do you bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to the captive, bring sight to the blind, set the oppressed free, and proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord? What can you do to work towards the above? Choose one action to work on in your own life.