Jesus in the Synagogue (Luke 4 : 14-21)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour!”
The Jubilee Year of Hope is almost half over! I am praying for all of you that this ‘year of the Lord’s favour’ may touch each of us. By our baptism, we have been made apostles of Jesus Christ, we have been given the Holy Spirit in wonderful way in the Sacrament of Confirmation. In Christ, we have experienced the fulfilment of these words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me!” We have been sent to be sowers of peace and joy along all the paths of the earth.
We may be tempted to imagine that sharing the Gospel is done in a spectacular way: knocking on doors, standing on street corners waving a sign, doing big and visible things! This temptation is hard to ignore in our multi-media world with loads of ‘influencers’ trying to get our attention.
I would like us to pray about the real work of sharing the Gospel: to serve! This great commission to serve is often unspectacular. Hidden in plain sight, we redeem with Christ our fellow man by serving one another. This fire that should burn in the hearts of all followers of Christ is from the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has given each of us a share in the common Priesthood of Jesus Christ- which is inseparable from but essentially distinct from the ministerial priesthood. Just as the ministerial priesthood is a life of complete and total service for their brothers and sisters, so too, the common priesthood of the faithful is lived out in all the various places of the human family. We spread the sweet odour of Christ, by forgetting about ourselves and seeking to help one another. Together, through our Baptism we commissioned to redeem the world with Christ.
In these wonderful days of summer rest, let us rededicate ourselves to seeking out little, humble deeds of service. Let us serve with a smile and without any desire for recompense.
† Selim Sfeir
Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus