A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to Corinthians
2:1-5
When I came to you, brothers and sisters,
proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.
From the Gospel according to Luke
4:16-30
Jesus 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.?
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, ?Is this not 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 he passed through the midst of them and went away.
That day, in Nazareth, Jesus confronted His interlocutors with a choice about His identity and mission. No one in the synagogue could help but wonder: is He only the carpenter’s son who arrogates to Himself a role that does not belong to Him, or is He truly the Messiah, sent by God to save the people from sin and all evil?
The Evangelist tells us that the Nazarenes failed to recognize the Lord’s anointed one in Jesus. They thought they knew Him too well, and this, instead of facilitating the opening of their minds and hearts, prevented them from doing so, like a veil obscuring the light.
Sisters and brothers, this event, with the due analogies, also happens for us today. We too are challenged by the presence and words of Jesus; we too are called to recognize in Him the Son of God, our Saviour. But it may happen to us, as it did to His countrymen, to think that we already know Him, that we already know everything about Him, that we have grown up with Him, in school, in the parish, in catechism, in a country with a Catholic culture… And so, for us too, He is a Person who is close, indeed perhaps even ?too? close.
But let us try to ask ourselves: do we sense the unique authority with which Jesus of Nazareth speaks? Do we recognize that He is the bearer of a proclamation of salvation (?)? And I, do I feel in need of this salvation? Do I feel that I too am in some way poor, imprisoned, blind, oppressed? Then, only then, ?the year of grace? will be for me! (Pope Francis, Angelus, 26 January 2025)
Gospel and Word of the Day – 31 August 2026 –
A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to Corinthians
2:1-5
When I came to you, brothers and sisters,
proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.
From the Gospel according to Luke
4:16-30
Jesus 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.?
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, ?Is this not 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 he passed through the midst of them and went away.
That day, in Nazareth, Jesus confronted His interlocutors with a choice about His identity and mission. No one in the synagogue could help but wonder: is He only the carpenter’s son who arrogates to Himself a role that does not belong to Him, or is He truly the Messiah, sent by God to save the people from sin and all evil?
The Evangelist tells us that the Nazarenes failed to recognize the Lord’s anointed one in Jesus. They thought they knew Him too well, and this, instead of facilitating the opening of their minds and hearts, prevented them from doing so, like a veil obscuring the light.
Sisters and brothers, this event, with the due analogies, also happens for us today. We too are challenged by the presence and words of Jesus; we too are called to recognize in Him the Son of God, our Saviour. But it may happen to us, as it did to His countrymen, to think that we already know Him, that we already know everything about Him, that we have grown up with Him, in school, in the parish, in catechism, in a country with a Catholic culture… And so, for us too, He is a Person who is close, indeed perhaps even ?too? close.
But let us try to ask ourselves: do we sense the unique authority with which Jesus of Nazareth speaks? Do we recognize that He is the bearer of a proclamation of salvation (?)? And I, do I feel in need of this salvation? Do I feel that I too am in some way poor, imprisoned, blind, oppressed? Then, only then, ?the year of grace? will be for me! (Pope Francis, Angelus, 26 January 2025)
A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to Corinthians
2:1-5
When I came to you, brothers and sisters,
proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.
From the Gospel according to Luke
4:16-30
Jesus 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.?
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, ?Is this not 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 he passed through the midst of them and went away.
That day, in Nazareth, Jesus confronted His interlocutors with a choice about His identity and mission. No one in the synagogue could help but wonder: is He only the carpenter’s son who arrogates to Himself a role that does not belong to Him, or is He truly the Messiah, sent by God to save the people from sin and all evil?
The Evangelist tells us that the Nazarenes failed to recognize the Lord’s anointed one in Jesus. They thought they knew Him too well, and this, instead of facilitating the opening of their minds and hearts, prevented them from doing so, like a veil obscuring the light.
Sisters and brothers, this event, with the due analogies, also happens for us today. We too are challenged by the presence and words of Jesus; we too are called to recognize in Him the Son of God, our Saviour. But it may happen to us, as it did to His countrymen, to think that we already know Him, that we already know everything about Him, that we have grown up with Him, in school, in the parish, in catechism, in a country with a Catholic culture… And so, for us too, He is a Person who is close, indeed perhaps even ?too? close.
But let us try to ask ourselves: do we sense the unique authority with which Jesus of Nazareth speaks? Do we recognize that He is the bearer of a proclamation of salvation (?)? And I, do I feel in need of this salvation? Do I feel that I too am in some way poor, imprisoned, blind, oppressed? Then, only then, ?the year of grace? will be for me! (Pope Francis, Angelus, 26 January 2025)