Last Sunday’s Gospel about the Messiah coming ended with Jesus proclaiming: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Today’s Gospel continuation has the listeners upset because they don’t have the faith to accept their kinsman and neighbor to be that Savior of the world.
Jesus, God the Father’s only begotten Son and co-Creator, also was speaking to us. Like the prophets: Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah and Jeremiah mentioned in the Gospel and first reading, we too are called to represent God on earth to all with whom we come in contact. With that calling to love comes both hardship and clarity to our lives.
According to St. Paul’s first Letter to the Corinthians, which also appeared in last Sunday’s readings, love is the greatest spiritual gift of all. As he writes: Love bears, believes, hopes and endures all things. “Love never fails,” as long as we put our faith in the truth it brings to all situations. To do so, we need to trust in God’s ways no matter what we face in life; be it difficult, sad or overwhelming.
In my own life I have faced numerous setbacks that made me question if God loves me. It seemed like I was out of the loop, so to speak, and caused me to wonder if anything I did would be acceptable to God. Eventually, I realized that I needed to consider God’s side rather than always come from my perspective and expect that something good would happen; whether I was in the right or not.
Eventually, I began to modify my approach to how I needed to respond to
God’s call rather than taking the lead that often either fell short or led to
an alternative path away from God. It
started with prayer, reading Scripture and living a Sacramental life as best I
could. That gave me the strength and
courage to get past whatever obstacle was in my way whether because of my
decisions or otherwise.
This week we celebrate Catholic Schools Week in the United States. The children who have this educational foundation of what the Church teaches are also faced with making good choices, not only for doing well in school, but in life. As a rule, Catholic schools are designed for students to encounter Jesus daily in prayer and in how best to live one’s life as a child of God.
In addition to learning common subjects taught in all schools, they learn at an early age how to interact with people of all types in the same way Jesus did with people He encountered while on earth. Using the same gifts as outlined in St. Paul second reading today, they are taught to make “agape” love their primary approach as did Jesus in His relationships with people as an unconditional divine love.
It is hoped that Catholic School teaching, aside from providing education to help one succeed in the world, will also provide students with wisdom and understanding to lead a life connected with the ways of the Lord. That in addition to seeking a vocation to earn a living wage for the future, they will use their spiritual gift of God’s love to serve all in need and bring peace and joy to the world.
Reading 1: Jeremiah 1: 4-5, 17-19
Reading 2: First Corinthians 12: 31 – 13: 13
Gospel: Luke 4: 21-30
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