These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place” . . . They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away. (Lk 4:24-30)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030424.cfm
Why did the people of his hometown want to kill Jesus? Because he spoke about God helping foreigners: the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian. If Jesus were to preach that message today . . . well, he’d get the same reaction.
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Cor 1:22-25)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030324-YearB.cfm
The Cross is a very hard sell. Weakness has never been part of our pattern for success. But proclaiming Christ crucified is Paul’s mission, and as the Apostle to the Gentiles points out, God’s weakness is “stronger than human strength.”
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them" . . . “He said to him, 'My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'" (Lk 15:1-3, 11-32)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030224.cfm
The Parable of the Prodigal Son is perhaps the crowning jewel among the many parables of Jesus. The parable is given in the context of the complaint against Jesus: "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Of course, the Eucharist is the celebration of the One who welcomes sinners and invites us to the Table. And we ask the prayers of the Virgin Mary: Pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.
Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic. When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him. (Gen 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030124.cfm
Sibling rivalry and family squabbles are common, not very pretty occurrences in everyday life. But God can use even our basest instincts to bring about the great plan of Salvation.
Jesus said to the Pharisees: "There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. (Lk 16:19-31)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022924.cfm
I will never forget the day in seminary when our New Testament professor explained to us this parable and what happened to the poor man when he died. The rich man when he died was buried, but the poor man . . . well, dogs were scavengers in the cities of the ancient world.
