Fr. Vincenzo Munari
3rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C
This Sunday’s Gospel is divided in two parts The first (Luke 1, 1-4) is an introduction of St. Luke, the author of the Gospel, with a kind of letter to a friend by the name of Theophilus; in Greek this means “loved by God” or “lover of God”. The text points out the diligent care of Luke to investigate about Jesus “from the beginning” and through eye-witnesses.
It is clear that the evangelist considers the actions and the words of Jesus very important and he hopes that this importance is understood and made a pattern of behaviour also by Theophilus and by us.
The second part (Luke 4, 12-21) is the beginning of Jesus’ activity as a Teacher when, after the baptism in the Jordan and the temptations in the desert, He starts his activity around Nazareth. He is driven by the power of the Spirit (cf. 4,14), a power that is given also to us but we do not use it or, worse, we do not know we have it; and on the Sabbath He is asked to read the Prophet, the second reading during the Liturgy of the synagogue.
The text of Isaiah (Cf. Is. 61 and Lc. 4,18) proclaims the sabbatical year that Israel, according to the Bible, should observe every 50 years (Cf. Lv. 25, 11 ss) . It was very demanding and probably they never kept it. But this proclamation of Jesus is saying that He can keep this prescription with us.
Let us see how.
- The Good News to the poor is very much on the front line in the
words and the way of life of Jesus; not only the first beatitude (Cf. Lc. 6, 20) but also the conditions to follow Him are clear: “go sell, give to the poor, come, follow me”, because “The birds have their nests but the Son of man has no place to lay his head and rest. He had no shelter (cf. Lc. 9, 58).
2. Liberty to captives. We don’t need to look far to find slaves, prisons, lack of freedom around us and especially inside us also today. The first step to freedom is to look inside our lives and see, and name the masters that keep us slaves. Jesus can free us. - Give sight to the blind. We are blind when we do not see the wonders of God around us and in us. We must exercise ourselves by looking not only at tablets or big screens but also to the wonders of the Creator from the universe to the tiny insect or flower, and especially to the creature who is image and likeness of God.
4. Free the oppressed. Our vocation is to name and get rid of the many oppressions that are only a waste of time, of money, of health. Only when we first experience this freedom we can announce the liberation that Jesus is giving us and wants to give it to all. - Proclaim. As followers of Jesus this is what we have to do all the time by our lives and words. The good news must reach everybody and this should be done by us who have been commissioned to do it when we heard the words
“Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News” (Cf. Mc. 16, 19).
3rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C
This Sunday’s Gospel is divided in two parts The first (Luke 1, 1-4) is an introduction of St. Luke, the author of the Gospel, with a kind of letter to a friend by the name of Theophilus; in Greek this means “loved by God” or “lover of God”. The text points out the diligent care of Luke to investigate about Jesus “from the beginning” and through eye-witnesses.
It is clear that the evangelist considers the actions and the words of Jesus very important and he hopes that this importance is understood and made a pattern of behaviour also by Theophilus and by us.
The second part (Luke 4, 12-21) is the beginning of Jesus’ activity as a Teacher when, after the baptism in the Jordan and the temptations in the desert, He starts his activity around Nazareth. He is driven by the power of the Spirit (cf. 4,14), a power that is given also to us but we do not use it or, worse, we do not know we have it; and on the Sabbath He is asked to read the Prophet, the second reading during the Liturgy of the synagogue.
The text of Isaiah (Cf. Is. 61 and Lc. 4,18) proclaims the sabbatical year that Israel, according to the Bible, should observe every 50 years (Cf. Lv. 25, 11 ss) . It was very demanding and probably they never kept it. But this proclamation of Jesus is saying that He can keep this prescription with us.
Let us see how.
- The Good News to the poor is very much on the front line in the
words and the way of life of Jesus; not only the first beatitude (Cf. Lc. 6, 20) but also the conditions to follow Him are clear: “go sell, give to the poor, come, follow me”, because “The birds have their nests but the Son of man has no place to lay his head and rest. He had no shelter (cf. Lc. 9, 58).
2. Liberty to captives. We don’t need to look far to find slaves, prisons, lack of freedom around us and especially inside us also today. The first step to freedom is to look inside our lives and see, and name the masters that keep us slaves. Jesus can free us. - Give sight to the blind. We are blind when we do not see the wonders of God around us and in us. We must exercise ourselves by looking not only at tablets or big screens but also to the wonders of the Creator from the universe to the tiny insect or flower, and especially to the creature who is image and likeness of God.
4. Free the oppressed. Our vocation is to name and get rid of the many oppressions that are only a waste of time, of money, of health. Only when we first experience this freedom we can announce the liberation that Jesus is giving us and wants to give it to all. - Proclaim. As followers of Jesus this is what we have to do all the time by our lives and words. The good news must reach everybody and this should be done by us who have been commissioned to do it when we heard the words
“Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News” (Cf. Mc. 16, 19).