Third Sunday of Year C - 24th January 2010
Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your
hearing.
St Luke did not come on the scene until some years after
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. But he was a painstaking and
reliable reporter. He met and worked with many who had shared the life of
Jesus and the apostles, possibly even meeting Mary who had been there before
the crib and after the cross. From such sources, he gleaned accurate and
full accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus. He put order on these
stories to present Jesus as God who became human to show God's merciful
forgiveness of all people.
We live surrounded by words. Our waking hours are flooded
torrents of endless talk. Newspapers teem with words describing people,
events and places. While familiarity can breed contempt, over-familiarity
with the Word of God, can lead to indifference or apathy.
As we hear Luke's gospel read on the coming Sundays, we
realise that as well as being historically true, this gospel story is alive
and life giving. It points up the links between us and Jesus.
Though written in centuries past, the sacred writings
speak to us now. We can say of every passage of Scripture what Jesus said of
the passage from Isaiah that he read in the synagogue: 'This text is being
fulfilled today even as you listen'.
His work recounted in today's gospel is continued in the
church through each one of us. Just as Jesus was anointed to bring good news
to the poor, so each baptised follower is enabled by the Holy Spirit to give
sight to those blinded by selfishness, to free those entrapped by guilt, to
awaken hope in the downtrodden. To merely hear the gospel and not allow it
to inspire one to a joyful living of its message is to ignore the
nourishment our faith needs today. Faith is nurtured through gospel living.
Undernourished faith quickly dies. Shared faith never dies.
We need to develop a warm and living love of Scripture.
Perhaps bringing the Sunday readings home with us for later reading, or
using a good commentary to guide us. Taking a course, or joining a study
group. Like poetry, the only way to get to know Scripture is to read, read
again and then reflect. Only then the Word of God can become for us the
message of eternal life.
Fr. Kevin O'Shea, C.M.