3C SUNDAY HOMILY, LUKE 1:1-4; 4:14-21 JANUARY 26, 2025
1. STORY
As John was about
to finish high school, he spent time thinking about what he would do in the
future. One day while attending a
retreat in his Catholic high school, he read a small book entitled “You Can
Change the World.” The author wrote that
if you can introduce a person to Jesus, and that person accepts Jesus, that
person would change. If one person
changes, then the world begins to change. This sounded very reasonable to John. He learned that the task of a missioner was to
introduce people to Jesus. He now knew
what he would do in the future. He would
become a missioner so that he could bring change to the world.
2. GOSPEL, LUKE
1:1-4, 4:14-21
A. LUKE ATTEMPTS
TO TEACH HIS FRIEND ABOUT JESUS
St. Luke wanted to teach his friend about Jesus. To do this he wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.
B. JESUS KNEW
WHAT HIS MISSION WAS
One day, as was
his custom, Jesus when teaching in the synagogue, he selected and read a
passage from Isaiah about someone who would come with the mission of telling
others the good news about salvation and helping people. Jesus told the people this was his mission.
3. APPLICATION TO
LIFE
A. LEARN MORE
ABOUT JESUS
Here are two
suggestions on how to learn more about Jesus.
i) Try to read
the Gospel of Luke during the year. Plan
to read a chapter a week.
ii) Another suggestion is to read the other book written by St. Luke, the Acts of the Apostles. This book tells us about the growth of the Catholic Church after the Ascension of Jesus.
B. OUR MISSION IS
TO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT JESUS
i) At our
baptism, we were given the responsibility of bringing glad tidings to the many
spiritually poor. The spiritually poor
are those who are sad, unhappy, or lonely. They are not sure of the purpose of life, how
to get help, or are just hopeless about everything.
ii) We can share
the good news about Jesus by being kind to them, by showing them we care, or by
inviting them to study the doctrine leading to baptism.
4. CONCLUSION
After reading the
book, “You Can Change the World”, John felt he was called by God to be a
missioner. St. Luke wrote the Gospel to
teach his friend about Jesus. Jesus told
the people in the synagogue that his mission was to bring good tidings to the
poor. We should try to know more about
Jesus by reading the Gospel of Luke or any other section of the bible. We, as did Jesus, have the responsibility of
bringing the good news to the spiritually poor. We thank Jesus for his instruction. We ask him for help to faithfully carry out
this mission of bringing good tidings to the spiritually poor.
