First reading Isaiah 61:1-3,6,8-
The Lord has anointed me
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring good news to the poor,
to bind up hearts that are broken;
to proclaim liberty to captives,
freedom to those in prison;
to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord,
a day of vengeance for our God,
to comfort all those who mourn and to give them
for ashes a garland;
for mourning robe the oil of gladness,
for despondency, praise.
But you, you will be named ‘priests of the Lord’,
they will call you ‘ministers of our God.’
I reward them faithfully
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their race will be famous throughout the nations,
their descendants throughout the peoples.
All who see them will admit
that they are a race whom the Lord has blessed.
Responsorial Psalm 88(89):21-22,25,27
I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.
I have found David my servant
and with my holy oil anointed him.
My hand shall always be with him
and my arm shall make him strong.
My truth and my love shall be with him;
by my name his might shall be exalted.
He will say to me: ‘You are my father,
my God, the rock who saves me.’
Second reading Apocalypse 1:5-8
Jesus Christ has made us a line of kings and priests
Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-Born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. It is he who is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
Gospel Luke 4:16-21
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me
Jesus came to Nazara, 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 favour.
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.’
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Love as I have loved you
Jesus, the Incarnate God of love, bent to wash His disciples’ feet. One by one, He bent, poured the water from the jar, gently washed the feet and dried them with the towel tied around His waist. A job of a servant. Yet, Jesus took on the role of the foot-washer to express His unconditional love for them. As Jesus approached closer to Peter, he refused to allow Jesus to wash his feet. Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.’ Peter would never have known how to love others if he had not experienced the extent of Jesus’ love for him.
Like Peter, we need to experience being one with Jesus before we can truly love others the way He wants us to. Jesus continues to wash our feet by showing His love to us in the Eucharist. Each time we receive the Eucharist, we receive His love that empowers us to love those around us.
Reflective question:
To whom can I concretely show my love today?
To whom can I concretely show my love today?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year B” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD.
