THURSDAY AFTER EPIPHANY READINGS, GOSPEL COMMENTARY AND SERMON.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.”
THURSDAY AFTER EPIPHANY READINGS
READING I
1 Jn 4:19–5:4
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the father loves (also) the one begotten by him. In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Adorábunt te, Dómine, omnes gentes terræ.
O God give your judgment to the king,
to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
and your poor in right judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
From oppression he will rescue their lives,
to him their blood is dear.
They shall pray for him without ceasing
and bless him all the day.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
May his name be blessed for ever
and endure like the sun.
Every tribe shall be blessed in him.
All nations bless his name
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
ALLELUIA
The Lord sent me to bring Good News to the poor, and freedom to prisoners.
GOSPEL
Lk 4:14–22
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.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”
VIDEO COMMENTARY
TOPIC: WHAT DO YOU DO WITH BASHERS, CRITICS AND THOSE WHO MALIGN YOU?
In today’s gospel reading (Luke 4:14-22), the people who listened to Jesus in the synagogue were impressed with his intelligence and oratorical skills. But they were also doubtful of Him because of His background. “Isn’t he the son of Joseph?” He was a mere carpenter’s son. Soon enough, they would turn against Him. Shades of familiarity breeds contempt. As we reflect on the life of Jesus, we look to ourselves and our own lives. Perhaps, we have been bullied, bashed on social media, have been ignored, regarded unimportant in the lives of people, especially those who matter to us.
The gift of the Holy Spirit to mankind
A commentary on St John’s gospel by St Cyril of Alexandria
In a plan of surpassing beauty, the Creator of the universe decreed the renewal of all things in Christ. In his design for restoring human nature to its original condition, he gave a promise that he would pour out on it the Holy Spirit along with his other gifts, for otherwise our nature could not enter once more into the peaceful and secure possession of those gifts.
He therefore appointed a time for the Holy Spirit to come upon us: this was the time of Christ’s coming. He gave this promise when he said: In those days, that is, the days of the Saviour, I will pour out a share of my Spirit on all mankind.
When the time came for this great act of unforced generosity, which revealed in our midst the only-begotten Son, clothed with flesh on this earth, a man born of woman, in accordance with Holy Scripture, God the Father gave the Spirit once again. Christ, as the first-fruits of our restored nature, was the first to receive the Spirit. John the Baptist bore witness to this when he said: I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven, and it rested on him.
Christ “received the Spirit” in so far as he was man, and in so far as man could receive the Spirit. He did so in such a way that, though he is the Son of God the Father, begotten of his substance, even before the incarnation, indeed before all ages, yet he was not offended at hearing the Father say to him after he had become man: You are my son; today I have begotten you.
The Father says of Christ, who was God, begotten of him before the ages, that he has been “begotten today,” for the Father is to accept us in Christ as his adopted children. The whole of our nature is present in Christ, in so far as he is man. So the Father can be said to give the Spirit again to the Son, though the Son possesses the Spirit as his own, in order that we may receive the Spirit in Christ. The Son therefore took to himself the seed of Abraham, as Scripture says, and became like his brothers in all things.
The only-begotten Son receives the Spirit, but not for his own advantage, for the Spirit is his, and is given in him and through him, as we have already said. He receives it to renew our nature in its entirety and to make it whole again, for in becoming man he took our entire nature to himself. If we reason correctly, and use also the testimony of Scripture, we can see that Christ did not receive the Spirit for himself, but rather for us in him, for it is also through Christ that all gifts come down to us.
COLLECT
O God, who through your Son raised up your eternal light for all nations, grant that your people may come to acknowledge the full splendor of their Redeemer, . and that, bathed ever more in his radiance, they may reach ever-living glory. Through our Lord.
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