14th Sunday in Ordinary Time year B

Friends,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has sent me to preach good news to the poor.”

 With this Gospel acclamation verse, which are the first words of our Lord at the beginning of his humble ministry, let us call to mind the presence of the Lord’s Spirit in our Christian lives.  With the Spirit of the Lord in us, we can become humble disciples like Ezekiel and Paul even in challenging situations. We can draw strength and endurance from their relationship with God, as Jesus himself does from the Father.

In the first reading, the Spirit enters prophet Ezekiel who lived in turbulent times, and sets him to preach among a rebellious and stubborn people. The prophet has to speak what God wants. In today’s psalm, the singer filled with the Spirit of prayer is looking for God’s mercy, and like a servant, he prays for God’s redemption from scorners and haters. Christian people guided by the Spirit of love and prayer become prophets in our world today that is wounded by hatred and division and live with the fraternity that Christ inaugurated through his ministry that established God’s kingdom of love. We accept one another with our differences, struggles, and weaknesses.

            Paul using a paradox, expresses the power of God’s grace in our lives, especially when we struggle to be in union with Christ. For in our weaknesses, Christ’s power is revealed and humbles us.  Because of that, the Spirit of humility should permeate our Christian life for, Divine grace works best through our weaknesses and struggle.

 Jesus is the true prophet of God among us, and our knowledge of him must deepen our acceptance of him and our relationship with him. The people of Nazareth struggle to believe in him because they earlier knew him as one of their local community.

This week pray for the Spirit of comfort and solace in your Christian struggles, trials, and hurts received from other people. Also, pray for those living in war and conflict-torn countries.

Joy and peace.