Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Happy Sunday Brothers and Sisters!

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”. This is a bold claim from Jesus, who just read from the scrolls of the prophet Isaiah. We know this scripture from the Old Testament book of Isaiah “The Year of the Lord’s Favor” (Isaiah 61). The people of Jesus’ time would have known this scripture referred to the Jews’ liberation from Babylonian captivity. Imagine the absolute shock the people in the synagogue must have experienced from this proclaimed statement- Jesus is their freedom and salvation. In a reflection on this Gospel, Venerable Fulton Sheen shares how Jesus took the language surrounding this exile of His people and put it around Himself: “The ‘poor’ being those who had no grace and lacked union with God; the ‘blind’ were those who had not yet seen the Light, and the ‘captives’ being those who had not yet purchased true freedom”.

My dear friends, we are living in the fulfillment of this scripture right now. This is not a fairytale or some fun compilation of stories we get to hear- but the truth that our Creator came to us, to pull us out of the darkness and invite us to know Him and His light. The Lord’s words are Spirit and life as they speak of love and redemption. So, what a gift it is that we have been set free by the Anointed One who meets us every Sunday in this sacred liturgy of the mass. Jesus comes to us as He did to His people in the temple. Jesus wants to be found and will reveal Himself to us in many ways, we just have to listen for His voice and have faith.

Therefore, let us live out of this truth that we are no longer poor in spirit, no longer blind to the Light, and no longer slaves to our sins as our God came to us. We are children of a King who came down to bring us out of exile and back into eternal life. We are called to be whole, healed, and His.

Dominique Brutus,

Drexel FOCUS Missionary