Jan. 21 - Gospel to the Poor

Greetings beloved,

In the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 4, we see that Jesus went to Nazareth for a visit. As it was the Sabbath, He went into the synagogue to worship and was asked to give commentary.

They didn't realize who He truly was, so Jesus selected a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah which predicted what the Messiah would do when He came. It's what we call a 'Messianic' passage, and it read; "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD" (Luke 4:18,19).

The Messiah was to bring the good news of the Gospel to both the physically and spiritually poor. Of course, God is concerned that people have food, clothing and shelter, but He is more concerned for those whose spiritual lives are lacking.

America is the wealthiest country in the world, but there are still people all around us that are poor in money and even poorer in spirit. Usually those who are the richest in money are the poorest spiritually and those rich in spirit are often the poorest in money. Even within the Church. John Baptist De La Salle has said, "Its not a sin to have riches, but it is a sin to fix our hearts upon them." Unfortunately the western Church has been caught up in the pursuit of riches. Its rare to attend services where money isn't the main focus of the sermon or at least mentioned. We must remember what Christ has said concerning this, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [riches]" (Matthew 6:24). Those who are true servants of the Lord are busy doing what they can to reduce both types of poverty. What have you done to help the poor lately?

Pray with me... Loving Heavenly Father, we thank You for all that You have given us and all that You do for, in and through us. Keep us ever mindful that the only prosperity that matters is spiritual prosperity. In Jesus' name. AMEN!

God's blessings to you all,
Fr. Ernest+