“There is something almost funny, and also very sad, in today’s Gospel. Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth. He goes to the synagogue, reads from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” Then He tells them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

At first, everybody is impressed. But then somebody says, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” In other words: “Hala, kaila man ta ani! We know this fellow!” And that became their problem. They knew Jesus so well—or at least they thought they did—that they could no longer see who He really was.

Sometimes familiarity can make us blind to grace. This can also happen to us Catholics. We have been making the Sign of the Cross since childhood. We have heard the Gospel many times. We come to Mass, receive Communion, say the Our Father. Sometimes we become so accustomed to these things that we forget how extraordinary they are.

Imagine: God speaks to us in His Word. Christ gives Himself to us in the Eucharist. And sometimes our reaction is simply, “Ah, mao ra gihapon.” Same as usual.

The problem is not that God has stopped speaking. Perhaps we have stopped being surprised by God.

That is why Jesus mentions the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian. They were outsiders, yet they experienced God’s grace because their hearts were open. Meanwhile, the people of Nazareth had Jesus standing right in front of them—and they nearly missed God completely.

So today, let us ask for one grace: Lord, give me fresh eyes and an open heart. When I hear the Gospel, help me listen as though You are speaking personally to me. When I receive Communion, help me remember: This is not ordinary bread. This is Christ.

Not every meal is remembered

A man once told a priest, “Father, I have attended Mass for many years. I’ve heard hundreds of homilies, but I hardly remember any of them.”

The priest asked, “Do you remember every meal your mother cooked for you when you were growing up?”

“No, Father.”

“But those meals nourished you. Without them, you would not have grown.”

Final Words

The same is true of God’s Word. We may not remember every reading, every homily, or every Mass. But when we receive them with an open heart, God quietly feeds us, forms us, and changes us.

Brothers and sisters, never allow the holy to become merely ordinary. God may be closer than we think. God may already be speaking. The question is: Are we still listening?”