Memory of Jesus crucified
Remembrance of Nunzia, a mentally disabled woman who died in Naples in 1991; with her we remember all the mentally disabled people who have fallen asleep in the Lord.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 13,54-58
and, coming to his home town, he taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, 'Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter's son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?' And they would not accept him. But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is despised only in his own country and in his own house,' and he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus returns to Nazareth, his "homeland," where he is with "his people." He speaks in the synagogue as he had never done before, with a wisdom that was difficult to imagine for a person coming from a simple family, and furthermore without attending any special school or having any renown teachers. This is what the Gospel story suggests when it reports the reactions of his fellow citizens. Teaching in the synagogue consisted in reading and explaining some passages of the First Testament. The reaction of the inhabitants of Nazareth to Jesus' commentary is full of amazement: "Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power?" The reaction to Jesus' preaching is marked by the hardness of the heart of those who think that everyone is what he has always been and that no one can truly change! The consequence of this resigned conception of life leads one to lock oneself in one's "village" and do nothing. It is not realism, but sad resignation. And after all, it is ignorance of life. We all get to be connected, to know live what happens in the world, but we are without dreams for anyone, without ambition for a different world and for a better life. We are unable to know Jesus because we are strangers to his dream of saving the world. Instead, the poor, the sinners, those who need to be loved, and those who are waiting for a better world recognize Jesus; they hope in him. Jesus is right in saying: "Prophets are not without honour except in their own country and in their own house." We cannot know the Lord once and for all. We need to listen to him with our heart, every day, and he will reveal the ever-new mystery of his love in the different seasons of our life.