Thursday after the Epiphany of the Lord.
(Optional ) Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort.
Today's gospel present Jesus mission on earth, which he reads from the book of Isaiah that refers to the Messiah who would establish a kingdom of justice and peace that will never end. Jesus takes a stand to defend the life of his people who were oppressed and exploited, and with the words of Isaiah, he defines his mission of preaching the good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recover sight to the blind, set liberty to the oppressed and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. (Isaiah 61:1)
In Galilee at the time of Jesus, Women, Children, Samaritans, Foreigners, lepers, possessed, publicans, the sick, mutilated, and the handicapped, were highly discriminated by Herod Antipas. People were left without any help and without any defence. This is not what God had dreamt for his people. Everything hindered the manifestation of God in people's lives. Jesus wanted to reconstruct the community in such a way that once again, the people may see God's presence in their lives despite the harsh environment.
Jesus mission was to offer an alternative. He wanted to restore the original grace that was lost through sin. He publicly identifies himself as the Christ, the saviour of the world. This
way of joining the bible to the lives of the people brought mixed reactions. Some welcomed him and were ready to follow him, some remained surprised and amazed, others had negative reaction, some were scandalized and wanted to have nothing to do with him, they said " is he not the son of Joseph? " (Lk 4:22)
My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus mission is our mission as Christians. Like Jesus we have a role to proclaim the good news to the poor, by being a source of hope to them through sharing the little we have with them. There are so many people who are captives of so many things in life, we should catechise them and help them to un slave themselves. We should be the light to those who are blind. We should hold their hands to assist them not to get lost. And we should be proclaimers of the jubilee year of the Lord to all people.
As Christians we are missionaries too, we should preach with our words, actions and our lives. Let's pray that the spirit of the lord be upon us in fulfilling our mission as Christians. We must carry it out depending on God's will. This is a fact that we should not forget.
Finally, we are God's instruments, foot soldiers and ambassadors of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the coordinator of all our efforts, we should be docile to him so that when battles come we emerge to be winners. Remember we love God because he first loved us.
I wish you a happy prosperous new year full of God's blessings.
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