Sunday Gospel Reflection - Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time 2019

February 24^th 2019.  Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL  Luke 6:27-38

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL  Luke 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.” 

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel passage this week, Jesus talks about a kind of love that seems impossible. We are to love our enemies, pray for those who hate us, respond well to those who treat us badly, give freely to those who take from us. Is Jesus speaking in the abstract? Surely he doesn’t intend us to be able to love in that way? But, if we think about it, isn’t that exactly the kind of love that we seek in people around us? We want people to be patient with us, to not respond badly to our bad behaviour. Too often we make justice, not love, the basis of our actions. We seek justice for ourselves. We defend our space and our rights. We refuse to give something to someone unless he gives something similar to me. And if someone behaves badly towards us, we think we are justified in behaving badly in return. But a person who is fixated with justice in this way is not a pleasant person to be with. How can a mother raise her child if she seeks justice for every fault that the child commits? How can two spouses stay together all their lives if they are not willing to forgive and overlook each other’s faults? The love that Jesus is talking about is not an abstract, impossible love. Rather it is the very king of pardoning and forgiving love that we all need desperately every day. The person that defends his space and seeks justice will end up being isolated and alone. It is justice that is the abstract and impossible quantity in the end! It is forgiving love that creates real community. And Jesus is the one who shows us how to love in this way. He forgives us when we crucify him and abandon him. He returns our bad treatment with love. Let us make the way that Jesus treats us our model of how to treat others.

The love Jesus speaks about in the Gospel seems impossible, but it is the very love that each one of us seeks!

The Gospel passage for this seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time seem exaggerated. It speaks of love for enemies, acceptance of the most awful treatment from others. How can we treat this text in any way other than an abstract model of behaviour that is not really practical? Let us begin by looking at a phrase that is really key in this passage: “Do onto others as you would have them do onto you”. We read Jesus words regarding turning the other cheek to those who strike us, praying for those who mistreat us, giving to those who steal from us, etc., but if we think about it, this is the very kind of person that we would like to be with! This is the love that we seek. We want to be forgiven when we make a mistake, we want others to have patience with us, to not judge us, to give us another chance, to understand us, to not reply to our bad behaviour with similar bad behaviour. This is the father that we would hope to have, a father with a heart of love; this is the spouse we would hope to find; this is the love that a woman would long to find in the heart of her husband, someone who still loves her even when she is hard to bear. This is the kind of love that we wish to find in the people around us, those we work with, those we go to for help or advice.

The “exaggerated” love that Jesus talks about is actually essential in all relationships

So if this Gospel seems to you exaggerated, then why is it that our hearts long for exactly this type of love? Consider for a moment the opposite to this Gospel. Imagine you are listening to Vatican Radio and you hear the complete contrary. Imagine that Jesus says: “Hate your enemies, take revenge on them. Curse those who curse you. Mistreat those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on the cheek, strike him back! If your tunic is taken, go and burn that person’s house. Free yourself from those who make demands on you, send them away.” This kind of reaction is a simple form of self-defence. And isn’t it true that we spend our lives defending our space, asserting our rights and upholding our precious dignity? Such a person has placed a single principle at the basis of their existence: justice. Justice concerns itself with what ought to be done, the balance between rights and obligations. A person fixated with justice for himself spends his life making calculations of this sort. To have a person like that in your midst can be a source of great discontentment. A mother of this sort will have difficulty raising a child. How can the child grow serenely if all these accounts have to be satisfied? If your brother is of this sort and will not give you a millimetre more than you give him, what kind of fraternal relationship is that? What seems to be an “exaggerated” Gospel from Jesus is in reality the only way to be with other people! Love for enemies is the basis for love between people in general. Love is not optional. It is necessary for our lives. How can we raise a child without forgiving him? How can two spouses stay together for the rest of their lives without showing mercy to each other when they are unbearable? How can we keep a friendship together without pardon? Nobody would be able to live in a society that does not forgive! Each one of us needs desperately to be pardoned.

The world of justice and rights is the world of solitude and isolation. It is love alone, not justice, that forms community

How wrong we all are to think that justice is possible for us! Nobody on earth is on this level. Justice is important and must be striven after in many areas, but the reality is that it is an impossible abstraction. In the end, it is justice that is hyperbole and love that is the ultimate reality. The only way to live is to be with people who welcome us and make allowances for us. The world of rights is the world of complete solitude. The world of being preoccupied with my rights and my spaces is a world of being cut off from others, of hearts that are distant from each other. This passage from the Gospel speaks of something essential for our lives. We need the kind of love that Jesus is speaking of here. In fact, without any doubt, Jesus is describing himself in this text. He is the one who loved his enemies: he is the one who did good to us who hated him. He is the one who blessed us while we crucified him. He prayed for us while he was dying on the cross. He is the one who did not respond symmetrically to our evil. We sometimes think that relationships should be symmetrical, but you are you, and the other person is himself! If the other person is angry, then that does not mean that you have to respond with anger! If the other is behaving badly, then why do you have to behave badly as well? It is absolutely not true that our behaviour has to correspond with that of others.

Let us look to Christ. He loved us while we were still his enemies. Let us imitate him and love others around us even when it is difficult.

This Gospel might seem paradoxical but it is our lives that are paradoxical. We want to live in spaces that are respected, but in reality it is impossible to live in that way. We live by being open, by entering into communion. We need to welcome others and also to be welcomed by them. If we do good only to those who do good to us, then how many relationships will be be able to salvage? Sooner or later we would all disappoint each other. If we loved only those who loved us, then we would not be able to stand even in front of the mirror. We don’t even know how to love ourselves, let alone love others. If we do not have patience with our own defects, then how can we have patience with the defects of others? In the end, all of this depends on our relationship with Christ. Every day let us look to how he has patience with us. If we can see that we are enemies of his who are nevertheless loved by him, then we too can learn to love our own enemies. Let us allow ourselves to be illuminated by our own relationship with Christ. May this text enlighten our own necessity for love. Without love, one cannot live. Without communion, one cannot go on.

February 17^th 2019.  Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 6:17, 20-26

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL   Luke 6:17, 20-26

Jesus came down with the twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground
with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus proclaims the Beatitudes. Why does Jesus say that the poor, the bereaved, the hungry and the persecuted are blessed, whilst the rich, the satisfied, the contented and those who are much-admired are not blessed? When we are rich, satisfied and admired by others, we tend to consider ourselves self-sufficient. We are distracted by our success and do not turn to the Lord. But the poor, the bereaved and the persecuted turn readily to the Lord and acknowledge their need of salvation. When we are successful, we tend to be less aware of our own mediocrity. In the Magnificat, Mary expresses the same sentiments – like mother, like son! Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit she sees that the rich and powerful do not turn to their merciful Father in heaven. In the spiritual life, our misery is actually our strength. It is the avenue by which our Redeemer can enter and save us. Here we are confronted by a radical inversion of the usual order of things by the Gospel. The happiness that derives from Christ is not available to the one who has his stomach full. The salvation that Jesus brings is not for the healthy, the well-off, the rich. The one who is satisfied, entertained, and compensated tends not to be aware of his desperate need for God. One of the psalms has the following sobering words: “Man in his prosperity has no comprehension; like the animals he perishes”. Preaching to the rich and powerful is often a waste of time. We must be humbly aware of our misery before we can embrace salvation.

Why is the version of the Beatitudes in Luke different from the version in Matthew? Any great preacher will repeat some central teachings, expressing the same teaching in different ways depending on the context in which he is preaching.

On this sixth Sunday of ordinary time we hear the account of the Beatitudes as found in the Gospel of Luke. This is different to the version given by Matthew. In Luke there are only four Beatitudes, and they are put in opposition to four corresponding denouncements, none of which is found in Matthew. Furthermore, the preaching of the Beatitudes in Matthew occurs at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, whilst in Luke’s Gospel the Beatitudes are found in his so-called “Discourse on the Plain”. So how many Beatitudes did Jesus really give? Four or eight? This question is a little ridiculous. Do we really think that Jesus said things only once? Every teacher finds that he has to repeat himself. And the same teaching can be delivered in different ways in different contexts. Jesus preached many, many times, and it was natural that he would return sometimes to the same subject matter. The eight Beatitudes of Matthew were delivered in a very particular context. The four Beatitudes of Luke were delivered in a very different context and in a different manner. The place in which we find ourselves throws a completely different light on our situation. In the successive passages, we find that the plain in which Jesus is speaking in Luke’s Gospel  is close to Capernaum. Capernaum was located on an important crossroads along what was known as the “way of the sea”. It was a hub on the way south towards Judea and Egypt, and it was also on the route from Syria and the east towards the Mediterranean Sea in the west. The area was often called “Galilee of the Gentiles” and it was an area in which many people of diverse nationalities lived. So here we have Jesus speaking to a great throng in an area in which many people were moving.

Why are the hungry, the bereaved, and the poor blessed, whilst the rich and satisfied are not blessed? Because our misery makes us open to listening to the Lord. The satisfied and contented fell they have no need of God

In the preceding part of the Gospel, Jesus had chosen the Twelve after spending the night in prayer. It is interesting that Jesus comes from a state of solitude and immerses himself in the multitude. He comes from a situation of intimacy with his disciples and finds himself in the middle of a huge crowd. And then he begins his discourse. “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of heaven is yours”. And further on he says, “Woe to you who are rich for you have already received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, who laugh now . .” Why is there such emphasis in the text of what is the case right “now”, at this moment? Whether we are blessed or accursed depends on our state in this precise moment. If we are contented in this moment, then we are in trouble, but why? Among those who are reading this homily from Vatican Radio, who are most blessed? According to what we have just read, it is those who weep, those who are hungry. The one who is satisfied and contented is not blessed, according to the text. In the next line of the Gospel that comes after the passage that we read on Sunday, Jesus says, “To you who are listening to me, I say . .” The ones who are not blessed, in fact, are those who do not listen to Jesus. This is what really distinguishes those who are blessed from those who are not: whether or not we listen to the words of Jesus. Those who are poor, who are hungry, who weep, these are the ones most ready to listen to Jesus. The rich are distracted because they already have their consolation. Here we are confronted by a radical inversion of the usual order of things by the Gospel. The happiness that derives from Christ is not available to the one who has his stomach full. The salvation that Jesus brings is not for the healthy, the well-off, the rich. The one who is satisfied, entertained, compensated tends not to be aware of his own mediocrity, and is blind to the traps that life has in store for him. One of the psalms has the following sobering words: “Man in his prosperity has no comprehension; like the animals he perishes”. This psalm challenges us to wake up and to acknowledge our limits, our tears, the unresolved issues in our lives. It is very important that we be in tune with reality and not with self-delusion.

Within each one of us there is a part that is poor, that weeps, that is incomplete. This part is the doorway for the Lord to enter and save us.

These beatitudes can be read in an external or intrapersonal sense, and be understood in terms of those who are rich or poor, satisfied or hungry. But they can also be read in an interior way. Inside each one of us there is a part that is poor, a part that weeps, a part that is incomplete. This misery is the door for the Saviour to enter. Prayer arises as a result of this poverty. Our poverty is the window by which Jesus can finally enter and be our Saviour. The perception of our insufficiency is the truth about ourselves. We are being honest with ourselves when we feel impoverished and incomplete. However, this poverty is what prompts us to accept our redeemer. Just think that in this same Gospel of Luke, the virgin Mary says, “He has pulled down the rich from their thrones, he has raised up the lowly and filled the hungry with good things, but sent the rich away empty”.  This is the same logic – like mother, like son. They have the same vision, the vision of the Holy Spirit, of a God who has no difficulty in dedicating himself to his children, even though these children think they can get on without him. This is our tragedy: when we consider ourselves rich, when we consider ourselves to be doing all right. From a spiritual point of view, our misery is our strength: it is the space for God to enter into our lives. And to think that we hate our weaknesses! Experience teaches us that to preach to the rich, the full and the satisfied is a waste of time; it is a battle lost before it has begun. Those who are “winners” are convinced of their own sufficiency and power. They delude themselves because their own strength is transitory and very limited in its scope; the Lord wishes to give us something much greater. The book of Proverbs tells us that pride comes before the fall, and arrogance comes before pride. Before salvation, by contrast, comes humility. Before Christ comes to visit us, there are our tears, our sense of poverty. When we are aware of our misery, then we welcome salvation!

February 10^th 2019.  Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Lk 5:1-11

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL   Lk 5:1-11

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."
Simon said in reply,
"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets."
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men."
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Jesus tells Peter to cast his nets. Peter says there is no point because he has fished all night without catching anything, but he obeys anyway and the result is a huge catch of fish. Then Peter falls on his knees before Jesus and says, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” This statement is accurate insofar as Peter is right about his own misery. But he is wrong to conclude that such misery entails that the Lord cannot do anything with him. How often we are inclined to think that our poverty rules us out of God’s kingdom. The opposite is the case! It is only when we realise our faults that the Lord is able to work effectively within us. Instead of our desolation being a minefield for the Lord, it is actually the fertile ground for him to do marvellous deeds. How many Christians do not hand the reins of their lives over to God because they are convinced that they can manage by themselves! For Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus and countless others, the path to new life begins with the realisation of the inconsistencies of our old way of life. The Miserere (psalm 51) expresses this point well: “My sacrifice a contrite spirit, a humbled contrite heart you will not spurn”. New life is only possible for whoever allows the Holy Spirit to take the wheel because he is finally convinced that he cannot manage by himself. New life begins for me when I acknowledge that Jesus Christ, and not myself, is the Lord of my life.

Peter thinks that his sinfulness entails that the Lord cannot do anything with him

On this fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we read how Jesus chose to board the boat of Simon Peter in order to speak to the crowd. Peter sits there all day and listens to Jesus. When the discourse has been completed, Jesus asks Simon Peter to take him fishing. This seems like a waste of time to Peter because he has worked all night and caught nothing. Then they cast their nets and bring in an enormous quantity of fish. At this point, Peter reacts in his characteristic way, and it is this reaction that we wish to focus on. The fisherman bows down before Jesus and says, “Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man”. Peter is saying that Jesus is of divine origin whilst he himself is poor and defective. The Lord should not have anything to do with him! Let us examine this statement by Peter. Firstly, we can say that his statement is accurate. Peter is certainly a sinner. However, from this he concludes that the Lord should stay away from him. Jesus, by contrast, is saying the exact opposite. He is saying that the two of them will always be together, regardless of the defective nature of Peter. Jesus, in fact, gives two surprising instructions to Peter. The first is to cast the nets at a time when it seemed clear to everyone that the nets were useless. The second is the declaration that Peter will become a fisher of men when Peter thought that he himself was useless. In both cases, the fisherman was mistaken. The nets were effective even though they seemed a waste of time. And Peter himself seemed hopeless but turned out to be something marvellous. The Lord looks at sin differently to us. We look at a sinful person and we naturally tend to think that their weakness and frailty makes them a liability. They are a danger and cannot be of use to the Lord, or so we think. Many people think that their sins entail that the Lord would not want anything to do with them.

It must be underlined: our misery is not something that separates us definitively from God! Rather, awareness of our misery is the fertile ground in which the Lord can transform our lives!

This is a point that must be underlined. How often in spiritual matters it is necessary to battle against the discouragement and sadness that can be so prevalent in in human hearts. People come face to face with their own limits and misery, and they think that this separates them from God in a definitive way. Instead, we find in Scripture that a state of humiliation and the sense of one’s own failings is the best point of departure for the work of the Lord to become effective in us. It is the best preparation for abandoning ourselves into the hands of God. The Miserere psalm (psalm 51) is very important in this regard: “My sacrifice a contrite spirit, a humbled contrite heart you will not spurn”. We must keep in mind the dynamics of salvation. It is essential to stop making our perception of ourselves into something absolute. We tend to think that our limits are a minefield for God. Instead, these limits are the fertile ground for the work of God in us. These limits stop us from considering ourselves to be centres of truth and goodness; they show us that this is simply not the case. At this point we can begin to place our hand in the Lord’s and allow him to lead the way.

The way to new life is the recognition of the misery of our old life

Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus and countless others discovered that the only way to new life was the unmasking of the inconsistencies of the old life. Jesus does not need to distance himself from Peter because he is a sinner. Rather he can be with Peter because the fisherman knows that he is a sinner, because finally he has admitted that he is not a just man. Peter will not remember this fact always, of course. At the time of the Passion he will have to remember it again with bitterness. And it will be very important for him to begin again from the awareness of his failure. How good it is to meet people who have gone beyond the point of having illusions about themselves! How many Christians do not hand the reins of their lives over to God because they are convinced that they can manage by themselves! The consequence of this is the prevalence of mediocrity that surrounds us.

The good news is essentially mercy, and we cannot seek mercy unless we are aware of our misery

The good news of the love of God which is announced by Christians is essentially mercy. And the door of access to mercy is our own misery. The forgiveness of God is not merely the cancellation of debts by a competent office in paradise: it is the point of departure for the Christian life. “I believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins”. This new life is only possible for whoever allows the Holy Spirit to take the wheel because he is finally convinced that he cannot manage by himself. Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life, not me.

 February 3^rd 2019.  Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL    4:21-30

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL   Luke 4:21-30

Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying:
"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, "Isn't this 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 Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In Sunday’s Gospel we read how Jesus’ words disturbed the people of Nazareth. A true prophet is not an astrologer who does your horoscope and tells you what you want to hear. God’s ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts. Whenever the Lord speaks to me, he must tell me something different to what I am thinking myself. Otherwise it is not God who is speaking to me! I cannot go to the liturgy and expect the word of God to leave me unmoved! True joy and true consolation require being shaken out of my own closed mentality to return to the Lord. How often we turn the word of God into something sugary and domesticated. Or else we turn it into an abstraction to stimulate our intelligence. But the word of God is a place where the Lord is actively caring for us and seeking to transform us. When we pray, or go into the liturgy or contemplate the word of God, it is essential that we do so ready to be challenged, ready to allow God to visit us and redeem us. When we hear the word of God, it is as if we are on the banks of the Red Sea, waiting to see if the waters will open or if our enemies will reach us. We must contemplate the word in the context of the real drama of our own lives.

The true prophet is not an astrologer who does your horoscope. The task of the prophet is to challenge and denounce.

On this fourth Sunday in ordinary time, we begin by listening to the call of the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was called from before his mother’s womb to be “prophet of the nations”. What does it mean to be a prophet? It mean to arise and recount everything that the Lord reveals to him. And do not be afraid of them, says the Lord, or I will give you something to be afraid of! You must remain on my side and fear me more than them. “I this day
make you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass”. Why does the reading have this warlike character? Because this is the nature of a true prophet. A prophet is not someone who comes to tell your horoscope so that you can know how things are going to go for you, the encounters that you will have etc.. True prophecy is not of this trivial sort! In the Gospel we see what happens to Jesus after he opens his public ministry in the Gospel of Luke. At the synagogue of Nazareth he proclaims that the prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled in him. The people begin to say, “But this is the son of Joseph. Who does he think he is?” They are disturbed by his assertion. The expression, “all spoke highly of him”, is not translated well. The original Greek refers to someone who makes a negative testimony against someone else. Jesus is being rejected here, there is no doubt about it. Nazareth is a strange place. Here we find the faith of Mary, but here also we find incredulity. All of the Gospels assert that Jesus was not believed in Nazareth. But why did he not find faith? Because what he was saying was not according to their taste. Jesus gives examples of people who do believe, often people who are strangers, like Naaman the Syrian and the widow of Zarephath, or those who do not have great knowledge. The whole scene ends in chaos with the crowd trying to kill Jesus. What has happened here to make things go so badly? What has happened is that Jesus had spoken as a prophet. Jeremiah too faced attempts on his life. In the end Jesus will be killed, precisely for this prophecy. But what is a prophet expected to say? Is he expected to say nice things, to persuade gently? No, by nature a prophet must destabilize, always and everywhere.

God’s ways are not our ways. Whenever the Lord speaks to me, he must tell me something different to what I am thinking myself

As the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways”; thus, whenever God speaks to me, he must tell me something different to what I am thinking myself. Otherwise it is not God who is speaking to me. I am talking to myself. The prophet must always shake me up in a good sense, and either free me or show me the way out of my closed mentality. I cannot listen to God and then try to place him in the little box of my own making. I cannot go to Mass and expect the word of God to leave me unmoved. Too often we have transformed the word of God into something sugary, into something harmless and domesticated. That which looks like a kitten is in reality a tiger. That which might appear to comfort us in reality should scratch us. Do we really think we can be placed in front of the word of God and not be challenged? That would mean that the Lord had stopped working on us, had stopped caring about us. The word of God must always put me in difficulty if it is to help me make progress.

True joy and true consolation require being shaken out of my own closed mentality and returning to the Lord

And often the difficulty the word of God causes me will actually become my true consolation. Sometimes it takes a shock to make me return to myself. True joy requires that I abandon my own mentality. In the same Gospel of Luke, the risen Jesus appears to the disciples of Emmaus and says “Oh foolish and slow to believe!” In order to come to the knowledge of the beautiful truth, these disciples must cease thinking what they were thinking. Whenever a person is to be corrected or consoled, he must come out of his own way of thinking. For this reason, the word of God must always destabilize us. It is very important that we go into the liturgy ready to be challenged. The word cannot do other than to seek out that within us that needs to be changed, to lead us out of slavery. The Lord always wishes to say things to us that are great and beautiful, not inconsequential things. He does not place himself in front of us to say things that are tame and domesticated.

When we contemplate the word of God, it must always be in the context of the dramatic reality of our own lives, and not as a pure abstraction

 In prayer, the challenge is to stop believing that we have already understood or assimilated something that the Lord wishes to tell us. This is never the case. An ancient Hebrew sage writes that every time we are in front of the word of God, it is as if we are on the banks of the Red Sea. Will the sea open, or will my enemies arrive beforehand? When we are contemplating the word of God, we must always take into account the dramatic aspect of our lives, the areas in which we need to be visited by God and redeemed. The word of God is not a place where we receive information or abstractions that merely stimulate our intelligence. This would be to turn the word of God into something vain. How often we have over-conceptualised the word of God! We do not present is as the work of God in progress but as a concept to be understood. Once we have contemplated this abstraction, our lives remain exactly as before! No. God wants to work in us, to transform us. The word is to be something efficacious, something that asks to be received. The dramatic events of this Gospel show how the word can be rejected. And we can reject it too, or turn it into something empty and vain. Let us be wise, let us be small, let us be poor, let us be stupid before the word of God, let us allow things to return to the beginning. There is always something to be discovered, always something new that the Lord wants to do with us.