Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This Sunday is Word of God Sunday, and everything helps us to focus on the Word this week. His Word is what saves us. Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh. God has spoken and the word that he says is Jesus Christ. He did not need to say anything more. Is he enough for you? Is it enough that he sent his only Son who gave his life for you and loves you so intensely? The Father’s love is so great that he gives you everything you have, even his only Son out of love for you. Who does he love more, his Son or you? I dare not say but the fact is that he has given his Son for you and that is how much he loves you. His Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen him, I hope. Not in an apparition or in a statue crying but that you have seen him in your community, in your parish, in your family.
Christ is present in the Word when it is proclaimed in the community, not when you read the Bible at home. Jesus said when two or three are gathered in my name, I am present. He is present now if you are in a celebration in a church or in a garage; it doesn’t matter where. His word has a wonderful strength. Today’s gospel Jesus is in the synagogue, and he unrolls the scroll, and he comes to the book of Isaiah, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…and the eyes of everyone were fixed on him.’ They were riveted on him.
Our eyes can be fixated on someone in two ways. One is to have our eyes looking only at ourselves, or we can look at Christ. Either you live for yourself, or you live for Christ. To look at Christ means to love him. To look is to love. A priest friend was saying that in his parish when he leaves his parish, he will miss a lot the life-size body of Christ, nailed to a wooden cross. He felt that the cross spoke to him and told him repeatedly that I love you no matter what. Every time he walks through the door he hears, I am here, loving you and I will always love you. If he didn’t see these eyes of love, he could not love. When his eyes look at something else, he gets distracted.
When our eyes are fixed on Christ, we can run the race as St. Paul said. It is also connected with the idea that Christ is the rock that cannot be shaken. It you are fixed on Christ you can run the race that God has invited you to be in. It means it will help your marriage, your widowhood, your loneliness, your priestly ministry, your life at college or as a young person in school, raising your children, caring for your parents, etc. Fix your eyes on Christ who is the initiator and perfector of faith. He is the one who initiates our faith and remember that faith means to love. It is the end point of faith. Christ is the one who puts us in this race. St. Paul says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. He is not saying he came in first, because the first one is Christ. He says, I need to run to obtain the goal.
This is the good news today that Christ goes ahead of us. He helps you to live your life fully which will make it different from the one you have today. With Christ your marriage is possible, and you can be very content with it. Your unhappiness is not because of the character of your husband, your unhappiness with your engagement is not because of your fiancé, your unhappiness in being a widow is not because you no longer have a spouse. The unhappiness in our lives is ONLY because Christ is not present. You can be happy, full of joy, if your eyes are fixed on him by listening to the preaching, to the Word, with your eyes focused on Christ. You can be distracted all week but when Saturday comes fix your eyes on Christ, on the sacraments, on the Eucharist, when you confess. This is what we hear in the gospel: “The eyes all looked intently at him.”
I am impressed with the fame that Christ has at this point, at his reputation. Everyone praised him. Thank goodness it was like this at the beginning because later they would try to stone him or throw him down a ravine and eventually crucify him. Christ takes advantage of his reputation to evangelize. It is a wonderful word today because Christ says it has been fulfilled today. He does not say it will be fulfilled, nor has been fulfilled, no, it is fulfilled today, in your life. But what will be fulfilled? The passage from Isaiah: ‘The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to bring good news to the poor. This is fulfilled today. He proclaimed liberty to the captives, recovery of the sight to the blind. This word is fulfilled today. Our Lord has given you and me sight. He said he would give freedom to the captives, but he has already done it. He sets us, the oppressed, free; he releases us from slavery to sin. He proclaims a year of grace of the Lord. This means he has already done it!
It is wonderful in the Scriptures that they never speak of tomorrow. It does not say tomorrow I will save you; he doesn’t say salvation will come to this house of Zacchaeus tomorrow. He says, listen to his voice today. Today you will be with me in paradise. A savior is born for you today. Today this word has been fulfilled in your hearing. It is not the today of 2,000 years ago; it is the today of January 26, 2025. The gospel speaks of what you are experiencing today. The historical reality of today: that you do not accept your father, that you hate your mother, that you want to sleep with your girlfriend, that you cannot rid yourself of resentment, that you cannot forgive an injustice, that you are broke even before the end of the month, that you want to change everything about yourself. So many other things in your life today that you cannot accept. You want to throw your spouse out the window. This is your day, and this Word is fulfilled today, if you listen, if you believe.
You can live these words, brothers and sisters, only if you are poor, blind or oppressed. The word says, I have been anointed to announce the good news to the poor, not to the rich. Who are the poor? Those who are lacking in something. What is it you lack today? Is it patience, generosity, gratitude, love, faith, works of eternal life? You and I are poor because we lack so many things, and the Lord comes to you today, to give them to you. It would be good if you brought your offering to this eucharist. What will you bring? I will bring my poverty; I have nothing else. Be like the publican who prayed in the temple saying, Lord, have pity on me for I am a sinner. Not like the Pharisee who was full of his good works saying, thank you Lord for I am wonderfully made.
Jesus Christ came to announce the good news to the poor, to the blind. He gives sight to the blind. If you are blind, and all of us are blind to the love of God, this word is fulfilled today. I come oppressed by sin, a slave of sin so this is a good news today. It is wonderful for me. The Lord has the Holy Spirit upon him. If you are a Christian, then his Spirit is upon you. Right now, the Holy Spirit is telling you something, I hope. He is telling you that what you hear today is true, it is THE truth. If you welcome the preaching, you welcome Christ and he is within you, and you can leave here pregnant with Christ. You are not a saint or a blessed, but you have Christ. Well, you might think what good is that to have Christ. If you have him, you can love, you can think that you are not better than the others.
It is not that you are saved, no, that is not the point. What is important is the salvation you will bring to those you are destined to save. There are many behind you that will be saved when you have Christ, or many will be condemned. On the day of reckoning you will need to give an account of how much you loved, because to love is to save, when you forgive you are saving, when you hate you condemn, when you do not forgive you condemn, but when you love you save. When you are generous you save; when you love your spouse, you save him/her, when you love your children, you save them, the same with your boss. If you are judging the boss all day long you will be condemned. The Lord said, ‘I have put you with that boss so that you can save him.’ This is the mission that you have. The Lord wants to give you this spirit, today, so that this word is fulfilled. I hope you believe it.
The Lord has the power to make you a new man today. If you are poor, the Lord will do fulfill this word today. Let us go to this marvelous banquet where the only one who is offered is Christ. You don’t have to offer anything; all is offered for you so that you can enter and become one flesh with Christ. He wants to be one with you so that you can leave here conquered by love. Your mission is to love, which is to do his will.