“The Lord has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives.” These words are from both the “Alleluia Verse” before the gospel passage, and in the gospel passage itself today! This one sentence neatly summarizes the entire earthly work of Jesus, the Messiah and the Christ!
The only human being in the whole history of the world to be qualified to bring true glad tidings to the poor and to set captives free - was a human who was also at the same time divine - really and truly divine! And that person - who was both - was Jesus! Son of God! Son of Mary! And Jesus voluntarily, eagerly and lovingly accepted his mission: the right the wrong in the world!
The emphasis here is on “lovingly!” It was love that conceived the plan to send Jesus to this planet. It was love that accomplished the needed reconciliation. It is love that makes the presence of the Church - an extension of the body of Christ - a reality! It is love that makes us members of that Church. It is loving that proves that we are children of God! It is loving that ensures that God will dwell with us and in us, both now and for ever!
And when this happens: when love prevails - miraculous things happen: the poor hear a message of glad tidings; captives of debilitating spiritual realities are set free; sight - the ability to see reality as it is - is restored to the spiritually blind; those suffering all kinds of oppression are set free by the gentle loving presence of God.
Jesus, in the gospel passage, tells us that he was the one to fulfill the prophecy to make these things happen. He invites us to be and do the same for others. It is our duty and our privilege - being baptized and incorporated into his very life and love! Otherwise, as St. John tells us in the first reading: we are liars! And God is not with us or in us, or in any of our activities for others!
Let us give our consent, so that today we may reflect the glory of the presence of Jesus in us - the Jesus we will receive sacramentally in this very Mass!
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