THE WORD
1Jn 4,19-5,4 / Lk 4,14-22
Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.
He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:
“The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor.”
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.” And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.
IN OTHER WORDS
Fr. Tony Pernia, SVD, the former superior general of the Society of the Divine Word always makes sense each time he would climb into a podium to deliver homilies, speeches or give lectures. His messages are always well thought out where words are carefully chosen and contents well arranged. Neither is he so fiery nor empathic in his delivery but always captures full attention from his audience. Fr. Tony speaks with conviction and authority at a high scholastic level.
Many people are gifted with speaking skills, capturing the attention of peoples regardless of topic and length. They are gifted with good voice, eloquence, fluency, articulation and even good looks. Transmitting messages to listeners for them is effortless. Many of them come from the ranks of politicians, ideologues, academicians, preachers, lecturers and teachers. But there is one element in speech that can divide them from one another, that which leaves in the listener a good feeling, a deep sense of meaning and the longing for more. That element is wisdom. It is that which triggers instant adherence to, reflection on, internalization and acceptance of the call for action because wisdom elicits honesty, sincerity and self-giving.
This is exactly what Jesus did in the synagogues. He spoke with wisdom, courage, conviction and authority. Without missing words of compassion and love He was not afraid to tell the truth, nor was he intimidated by the presence of authorities and antagonistic people who were knowledgeable of the law. Wisdom gained Jesus approval and acceptance. No wonder large crowds would always tail Him wherever He went. In a world full of lies and half-truths, Jesus’ example reverberates into every Christian’s heart who has accepted the challenge to be a witness to the Word. The proclamation of freedom, preaching of God’s word, restoration of sight to the blind, and the reconstruction of faith are only few of the tasks we have to do. And we can only effectively do these if we ourselves have mirrored our lives to that of Christ – the life lled with wisdom.
- Fr. Eugene Docoy, SVD | USC, Cebu City
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
