First reading 1 John 3:22-4:6
The Son of God has come and given us the power to know the true God
Whatever we ask God,
we shall receive,
because we keep his commandments
and live the kind of life that he wants.
His commandments are these:
that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ
and that we love one another
as he told us to.
Whoever keeps his commandments
lives in God and God lives in him.
We know that he lives in us
by the Spirit that he has given us.
It is not every spirit, my dear people, that you can trust;
test them, to see if they come from God,
there are many false prophets, now, in the world.
You can tell the spirits that come from God by this:
every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh
is from God;
but any spirit which will not say this of Jesus
is not from God,
but is the spirit of Antichrist,
whose coming you were warned about.
Well, now he is here, in the world.
Children,
you have already overcome these false prophets,
because you are from God and you have in you
one who is greater than anyone in this world;
as for them, they are of the world,
and so they speak the language of the world
and the world listens to them.
But we are children of God,
and those who know God listen to us;
those who are not of God refuse to listen to us.
This is how we can tell
the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood.
Responsorial Psalm 2:7-8,10-11
Gospel Matthew 4:12-17,23-25
The people that lived in darkness have seen a great light
Hearing that John had been arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he went and settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. In this way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled:
‘Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan,
Galilee of the nations!
The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light;
on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death
a light has dawned.’
From that moment Jesus began his preaching with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’
He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people. His fame spread throughout Syria, and those who were suffering from diseases and painful complaints of one kind or another, the possessed, epileptics, the paralysed, were all brought to him, and he cured them. Large crowds followed him, coming from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judaea and Transjordania.
______________________________________________
God is near
In the Gospel, Jesus began His public ministry in the Galilean regions, which were heavily oppressed by the Romans. It was a time of uncertainty and darkness for many. Yet, into this darkness, Jesus stepped forward as the light. He went not to the powerful places but to Galilee of the Gentiles, a place considered ordinary, even looked down upon. It was there that His voice echoed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Repentance here is not merely sorrow for sin, but a turning of one’s whole life toward God, a new direction, a new beginning. Where there is darkness, Jesus brings healing; where there is brokenness, He restores. He teaches, proclaims good news, and heals every disease, showing that God’s kingdom is not distant—it is present, compassionate, and active in the lives of ordinary people.
Today, we too come to Jesus with wounds, questions, and burdens. Jesus does not turn away. He meets us where we are, not where we think we should be. The good news is this: God comes into our everyday Galilee, into our imperfect and messy lives, and invites us into His light. The kingdom begins wherever we allow Jesus to enter, to heal and to transform.
Reflective question:
What might I need to “turn away from” and “turn toward” so I may respond to Jesus’ call to repent?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year A” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD
