“One of the hardest things to teach a child is that the truth is more important than the consequences.”

An "adult" faith is not a faith that follows the trends of fashion and the latest novelty; a mature, adult faith is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ.  It is this friendship that opens us up to all that is good and gives us a criterion by which to distinguish the true from the false, and deceit from truth." - Pope Benedict XVI

(Gospel Text: Lk 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.

The people of Nazareth expected healings in their town just as Jesus had done in Capernaum. However, Jesus refused to be a crowd-pleaser. Instead, He prophesied to His hometown folk and called them to repent (Lk 4:24ff). They were indignant because Jesus had not met their expectations, so they tried to throw Him over a cliff (Lk 4:29:30). Nevertheless, Jesus had done what His Father wanted and did not give in to the pressure.

Do you do what God wants even if that is unpopular? Do you give in to pressure? Do you think more of how you look than of what God wants? No matter what, choose always to please God (Gal 1:10).

Beginning with this day, let us accept the Lord on His terms and not our own!

By letting God work through you, the world will be a little more Christ-like for your having lived here.