January 27^th 2019.  Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

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 1:1-4; 4:14-21

Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events
that have been fulfilled among us,
just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning
and ministers of the word have handed them down to us,
I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew,
to write it down in an orderly sequence for you,
most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings
you have received.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,
and news of him spread throughout the whole region.
He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.
He 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."

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

Kieran’s summary . . . The theme this week is the power and efficacy of the word of God. In the first reading, the people of Israel rejoice when the long-lost book of the Law is read out to them. In the Gospel, Jesus goes into the synagogue and reads the announcement of liberation from the prophet Isaiah. These words are being fulfilled today in the people’s hearing, Jesus announces. The difficulty in our modern world is that words are being emptied of their meaning. Important words like “love” are being misused, profaned, and given contradictory and even perverse meanings. It is important that we recuperate the sense of the importance of words and God’s word in particular. We are rational beings and we are incredibly affected by the words that are spoken to us. We can be exposed to words of salvation or words of destruction. Think of the influence that the harsh words of a parent can have on the heart of the child. Think of the damage that the serpent’s word in Genesis 3 caused to humanity! But inside each one of us are the words of salvation that have been spoken to us through our personal history. How important it is to ponder these words often and proclaim them to others for their salvation also.

A first reading that highlights the beauty and wonder of God’s word

In this third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C, we hear the wonderful first reading from the book of Nehemiah. The book of the Law has been rediscovered after years of being lost. It is read aloud to the people and explained to them. What is striking is the way this reading of the word moves the people. At the same time they cry and rejoice at the event. Sometimes we are not so good at appreciating the gift of the word of God. We have not been educated to do so, perhaps.

The power and efficacy of the word of God is very important in the early chapters of Luke

The Gospel reading for Sunday is a collage consisting of the first four verses of Luke’s Gospel, preceding a portion of the fourth chapter. Luke tells us that he wishes to give an ordered account. He uses the testimonies handed down from eyewitnesses, who themselves, we are told, became “ministers of the word”. This word is one of the principal characters in the early chapters of Luke. The same word will enter into the womb of Mary through the annunciation of the angel. This word is Christ himself and the Gospel reading moves on to recount what happens when he arrives at the synagogue of Nazareth. Again, like the first reading, the scene is one of the liturgy of the word. Jesus unrolls the scroll and reads the text from Isaiah, a passage that speaks of liberation for everyone and the beginning of a time of grace. He finishes with the words: “This text which you have just listened to is today fulfilled”.

Our culture empties words of their meaning and often gives them profane or perverse meanings

The difficulty today is that we are living in a culture that has emptied the meaning out of everything. Technically, our society has embraced a philosophy known as “nominalism” in which the words that we say no longer have any content or substance. Words that are of profound importance, such as “love”, no longer have meaning. Such words have been taken and profaned by thousands of misuses that are banal, contradictory or perverse. Our culture relatives the meaning of words, but the word is nevertheless so important. Humanity has a rational capacity which is nothing less than marvellous. Sometimes we might say regarding a family pet, “The only thing he is not able to do is speak!” But the inability to reason and use words means in reality that the animal lacks almost everything. The word “logos” used for Christ refers to the capacity to articulate a dialogue, the ability to communicate in a refined way as humans can. There are a thousand ways in which one human being can communicate with the heart of another, the spoken and written words, and many other forms of expression.

Some of the words within us are words of salvation. Others are words of destruction.

The point is that all of us are marked by what is communicated to us. We carry words in our hearts. Some are words of salvation, but other words are not. Some of the words within us are deceptive. If a twisted word enters into the heart of a child, a word of rejection, for example, this word is not visible in physiological tests, but nevertheless marks the soul of the child in a profound way. How often we are conditioned by false words. But, surprisingly, we are also saved by a word of truth that enters our hearts. God created through the spoken word. He said “Let there be light!” and there was light. Reality originates in the word of God, and the serpent in Genesis 3, evil, seeks to destroy man through a false word.

God has planted a word of salvation within our hearts. We must constantly recall these words and use them to proclaim salvation to others.

To proclaim the word of God is not a banal thing: it is essential! The Good News is the announcement of liberation. It is not some kind of aimless chatter. When Jesus says, “This prophecy is fulfilled today in your hearing”, he is not talking about theory but concrete reality. The word of God has the capacity to bring to realisation that which it expresses. Human words also have this capacity to some extent. Consider again how the wrong wounds said by a parent can wound the hearts of children. Other words of welcome and affection have the opposite effect. But the word of God has an even greater capacity. If I welcome the word of God, then it is a fertile seed that leads to new life. Our task is to remember this word of liberation that has been spoken to each one of us, and proclaim the word of liberation to others. The liturgy brings to realisation that which it preaches. In the words of consecration, the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine becomes his blood. When the priest says, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, that baby becomes a child of God. These words are efficacious and powerful. We must celebrate the joy of this word, and engage in an interior spiritual battle against those words that ruin us. There are voices inside of us that confuse us and lead us away from the truth. We must discover that word of God that has been spoken to our hearts. Each one of us, in fact, is a word of God, a creation of the Lord that becomes a personal story. Our story is one marked fundamentally by the providence of God. Alongside all of our pains and sufferings there are the graces and potentials that the Lord has given us. The word of God cares for and conserves the truth. It puts us into a relationship with Sacred Scripture.  It is essential to recall constantly in our hearts those particular words that have saved us and lifted us up, that which has caused us to be reborn, the forgiveness that we have received, the trust that the Lord has placed in us. All of this transforms us into persons that live as children of God, bearing witness to the truth that the Lord wishes us to express to others, the love that he wishes to proclaim to people’s hearts.