You will not be defeated

Good morning, happy Monday and blessings my dear Holyrood family. I remind you that today Monday we have Mass and Eucharist in Spanish at 12:00 pm. Come and celebrate in community.

We will be reflecting on the Gospel of Saint Luke (4: 24-30) where Jesus shares a message with the crowd that was contrary to what they expect to hear, and they are furious. However, we should not judge them too harshly because we too easily get angry when someone tells a truth that we do not want to hear. This story is a paradigm for the rest of Jesus' ministry - and also for the ministry of the early church in the book of Acts. It prepares us for: Jesus' continued emphasis on ministry to marginalized people; The growing opposition against Jesus from Jewish leaders and the crowd's insistence that Jesus be crucified (23:18); The persecution of the church in the book of Acts (also written by Luke); and The final acceptance of the Gentile people, that is, those who were excluded.

The root of the controversy we find today is in the rejection of the generous message of Jesus, in the refusal of his people to accept his invitation to renew themselves, to change, to replace the desire for revenge with compassion, by the announcement of the year of amnesty, of God’s grace. The "usual", the "achievers", protest; very pleased with themselves, they would prefer a righteous Messiah to a compassionate one. They do not want the novelty announced by Jesus: the free forgiveness of God, compassion for desperate sinners ("bandaging torn hearts").

Perhaps we could summarize by saying that when a person faithfully responds to God's call, God will not allow any intercessor to divert that call. Those who serve God have been imprisoned, stoned, shipwrecked and even martyred - but have not been defeated. As Julián de Norwich said: “God did not say that‘ You will not be tempestuated, you will not be strained, you will not be afflicted, ’but He said,‘ You will not be defeated. ’” The invitation for today is that you do not let yourself be defeated. 

Blessings

Fr. Luis +