The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:17

You won’t find the opening statement in Today’s Readings…but maybe, just maybe, you should.  In our Gospel this morning, we are told that Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and went into their synagogue’s and was praised by all.  They asked Him to read from Scriptures and chose this passage from Isaiah…

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.

After reading this, with all the eyes of the people upon Him – he performed the first recorded mic drop…

“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

I might add, this homily would have been approved by most congregations that I know.

So back to the opening statement.  Jesus was filled with the power of the Spirit.  Jesus then filled His Apostles with the power of the Spirit and in turn, they have passed that power of the Spirit on down to all of us.  Catching on with what I’m telling you?You are an heir to the Kingdom, just as Christ was, because you too have the Spirit of the Lord.  Are you willing to show mercy to the sinner, bring glad tidings to the poor, help the blind recover their sight (especially in the year 2020!!), let the oppressed go free?  Go back to the first reading where you are told to love your brother; if you can’t love your brother, then you don’t know God and if you don’t know God, you can’t love Him either.  Friends, we as Catholics are called to take an active life as Christian men and women and we have been given the gifts to do this through our sacraments.  Take an active role as a Christian, as a Catholic.  Be filled with the Spirit; be prepared to suffer so that YOU TOO may be glorified.

Do something great for our Lord today – fulfill that scripture passage to all you meet.  

God’s will, not mine, be done.

Be not afraid; just have faith.

Jesus, I trust in You.

He must increase; I must decrease.

But you man of God chose righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience and gentleness.  Compete well for the faith.