Jesus' Mission Statement and His Anointing of Us

In today's Gospel, Luke 4: 16-30, Jesus is attending the synagogue service, as He always did on the Sabbath.  He stood up to read and opened the Scriptures to the passage in Isaiah that spells out His Mission Statement:

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!

Let us hear Jesus' message to you and me:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon  you, (insert your name), because I have anointed you at your baptism and every time you receive the Eucharist, the sacrament of  the Anointing of the Sick or any other sacrament. I also anoint you every day with love.  Why? So that you become a Good News person and are able to make a difference in the lives you touch. I anoint you so that My love grows in  you and you can be a blessing of love to those I send into your life each day or to those to whom I send you.  I anoint you each day so that you can be a person who empowers others to know freedom from oppression, negative views of themselves and know that they are loved.  I anoint you with the oil of the Spirit, an oil that never dries up but multiplies when you anoint others with love and they anoint you."

"I anoint you because I have chosen you to go forth and bear fruit that lasts and that fruit is love."

How great is the Lord, our God!

The Awesome, Transforming Power of Anointing

In today’s first reading, James 5: 13-20, St. James says to us: Are you suffering,…pray! Are you in good spirits, offer praise.  Are you sick, be anointed by a priest.  “The prayer of faith will save…[you], and the Lord will raise…[you] up. If…[you] have committed any sins,...[you] will be forgiven.” Reflect upon the power of the Anointing of the Sick!  Your sins are totally forgiven and you enter eternal life free of sin, blameless before God—a grace that is not cheap. It was paid for by the suffering of Jesus in his passion and death on the cross. What an awesome, gracious, and caring God.

What a gift to have been given membership in the Church. It is through that act of faith and love that I have come to know Jesus. It is through my relationship with the Church’s teachings, the liturgy, the Scriptures—and many parishes now offer courses in Scripture—daily Mass, at which Jesus comes down upon our altars and, as at the Last Supper, says to us: Take and Eat. This is my Body given up for you. Take and drink. This is my Blood poured out for you. Jesus, then, in Holy Communion, enters the Temple of my body and cleanses it, purifies it, as He did the Temple of Jerusalem prior to His Passion, Death and Resurrection. And there are so many other graces afforded us in each of the Church’s sacraments!

Oh, the greatness of my God, and yours!

Jesus, Bearer of Good News

In today’s Gospel, Jesus enters the synagogue, as He had always done during the Sabbath.  He is handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and opens to the passage which reads:

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.

This is Jesus, the Son of God, reading this passage. Jesus tells us that the Father anointed Him “to bring glad tidings to the poor,” to us, that He “has been sent [by the Father] to proclaim liberty to captives,” yes to us; and to bring “recovery of sight to the blind,” to you and me, to free us from our oppression!

Like the Jews who were listening to Jesus and who dismissed him, saying “Is he not the son of Joseph,” do you and I find a reason to reject His message?  Do we choose to remain blind, oppressed, unfree because Jesus, in our minds, is only the son of Joseph, not the Son of God sent by the Father to bring us good news of salvation? On the one hand, do we dismiss God’s message because we do not like the one who delivers it?  On the other hand, when we are the instrument that God invites to proclaim the Gospel, to share our faith, do we resist because, after all, whom am  I, I’m only so and so’s son/daughter!