In today's Gospel, we learn about how Jesus taught at a synagogue in Nazareth and read from the book of Isaiah and then commented "today, the scripture has been fulfilled".
Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and our minds. Fill us with your peace, love, and understanding. Help us to hear God's message today and recognize His voice in our daily activities. Amen
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He 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.”
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBAjg7B7rAg (Attributed to Catholic Kids Media)
Ask: Are any of the needs we see in the world today like the needs that Jesus named? Which ones? (Place these needs within the framework that Jesus spoke of: bringing glad tidings to the poor; bringing liberty to captives; giving sight to the blind; bringing freedom to the oppressed.)
Ask: Why was Jesus able to respond to the needs he saw in his day? (He is God's Anointed One, the Son of God.) What has Jesus given to us to help us respond to the needs in our world today? (the gift of the Holy Spirit)
Ask: In what ways might we respond to the needs we see in the world today? (Accept all reasonable answers.)
Say: We pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us serve others in Jesus' name.
Father in heaven, for the sake of bringing others closer to you, we give you today, all that we think and do and say, and we join it with all that was done by Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen
