After vanquishing the Devil, Jesus returns in the Spirit to Galilee where his fame grows, and then enters Nazareth to proclaim the kingdom of God to his brethren. He takes the scroll and reads:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed meto 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."
(In another translation he is also anointed to "heal the broken hearted").
Here Jesus shows his communion with the other Persons of the Blessed Trinity. He reads and fulfills the prophecy of the Old Testament God by God's providence, and he announces his communion with the Holy Spirit.
He also shows his loving heart for humanity, starting with his very own hometown. Can we not take a lesson from this and love the people right next to us first? He has come for the poor in spirit and materially poor, for those blind physically and spiritually, for those captive to sin, for those burdened by the impossible law. And he still comes for these sick people now, for the year acceptable to the Lord can mean the entire life of the Church, which works tirelessly in the service of humanity. One can think of the various saints who spent their lives working for a more just social order, for example.
And the eyes of all were fixed on Christ. Let us return his gaze for us! Let us look at him through the Scriptures, through our Christian friends, through our faith in the sacraments, through Eucharistic adoration, through his everyday Presence!
But let us beware of fickleness, of praising Christ in his Church at one minute and then condemning him in the next.
Lord, come and set us free to worship you without fear! Give us your Spirit, so that we might commune with God and will the good of our neighbor, becoming agents of Your divine Love right where we are planted. Grant that we may experience the "glorious freedom of the children of God."
Mary, shrine of the Spirit, send the Holy Spirit into our hearts to form Christ in us! Come Holy Spirit!
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