Second Reading: 1Corinthians 12: 12-30. We are a community, each with his role to play under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Gospel: Luke 1: 1-4; 14-21. Jesus announces himself to be the fulfillment of the Scriptures.
1. It was the practice in synagogue worship to have a reading from the Law and another from the Prophets of the Old Testament, followed by a sermon. In today’s event Jesus was invited to act as both the reader and preacher. The Gospel notes that ‘And the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him”. It was really as if the eyes of all the people of God, who had ever lived, were looking upon Jesus at that moment. Century upon century of promises from God and waiting by the people focused upon that moment in time. Jesus read, as we have just heard, a passage from the book of Isaiah. Then he spoke simple, but momentous words – words which sounded astonishing to his listeners: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing”. Actually, it was not only this passage from the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled. Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of everything written in the Old Testament; moreover, he embodied and completed in himself the whole destiny and purpose of the chosen people.
2. In the First Reading we see Nehemiah reminding the people of their destiny. In reading the word of God to them, he was reminding them that they were a people set apart by God, so that they could preserve his truth, law and worship, and mediate his blessings to all mankind. By means of the prophets, judges and kings God made his truth and law known. Through them he pointed out the way of life that his people were to follow. Also God made of his chosen ones a priestly people, set apart to offer a pleasing worship to the one true God, and to receive his blessings in return. But the whole destiny of the chosen people was in the future, in a great day of the Lord, when the Messiah would come. The Messiah was to fulfill not just some prophecies made about his coming, but he would perfect and complete the whole purpose of the chosen people.
3. Then on that apparently ordinary day in the humble synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus, in simple words, spoke tremendous truth. In effect he said: “I am the one you have been waiting for. All the centuries of promise and waiting have become reality in me”.
4. We are the new chosen people of God. We are people, not of promise, but of fulfillment. Jesus is alive and active among us, who are the People of God and the Church. To fulfill our destiny, to be true to our Christian call and mission, we must be committed to Christ. He is the One we must know, because he is the truth. His way of living we must follow and imitate. His commitment to the needy and suffering of the world, and his proclamation of the time of the Lord’s grace we must make our own plan of action, because he is the way, the only way to the Father. He is the only way to a meaningful life and to true happiness for the world and us. He is the life…
天主聖三，我們感謝你將教宗若望保祿二世，賜給教會，使他彰顯天父的慈愛、基督十字架的光榮，及聖神愛的光輝。他完全信賴你的無限仁慈，及聖母瑪利亞慈母般的轉求。他給予我們耶穌善牧的生動肖像，並為我們指出成聖是基督信徒日常生活的必然本分，又是通往與你永恆共融的道路。請你因教宗若望保祿二世的轉求，依照你的旨意，賜給我們所需的恩寵。願他早日被列入諸聖的名冊。亞孟。
