Readings: Lev 23: 1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37; Ps 81: 3, 4, 5-6, 10-11ab; Matt 13: 54-58
In the human heart, there is often a strange resistance to the beautiful things that God proposes. We note it in this passage from Matthew's Gospel: the people of Nazareth do not accept that Jesus, one of their countrymen, is a great prophet: they want to reduce him to a simple "carpenter's son". God wants to do wonderful things and people resist.
Today's first reading on the "solemnities of the Lord", on feasts. We are not made to always live trivially, we are made for joy in the Lord. We were not created to be slaves, but free, and it must be recognized that work often has a servile aspect, that is of slavery. How many people are slaves of machines! Being slaves of machines entails the need to adjust one's work rhythm to the rhythm of the machines, and many "solemnities of the Lord "are subordinated to this necessity. However, God wants his children to be able to live, in joy, in freedom, celebrating great feasts, Moses, at God's invitation, orders the people not to do any servile work on the solemnities of the Lord, to live relationships with others with a joyful heart.
Work often hinders relationships between people: it is demanding, it takes up all the time, and makes it impossible to take care of others. On the other hand, on the day of the feast of the Lord, on the day of the "holy convocation", in which we are all gathered to celebrate the Lord together, it is possible to welcome each other, in relationships blessed by the Lord and oriented towards union with him, in this orientation personal relationships are deep, sincere, authentic; only in the Lord and with him we can love each other generously, authentically, deeply.
Feasts have a double dimension: they make us free to give time to the Lord, to be more united with him in prayer, praise, exultation; they give us the possibility of being more available to welcome others, to be attentive to them, ready to listen, to share in the joy, in freedom and in love. The Church makes this desire for God her own and has instituted many feasts to help us live in the climate of joy proper to the newness of life that Christ has given us with his death and resurrection. All the solemnities of the Church are connected to the paschal mystery, to highlight that Jesus is the center, the beginning, and end of every reality.
The Gospel reminds us to reflect on the mission we have been given to see the presence of God in the lives of those all around us. What if Jesus had grown up in our town? As our neighbor? And though the Incarnate Son of God does not live next door as He did in Nazareth, He does live in each and every person we encounter every day. Let us honestly reflect upon how well we see Him and commit ourselves to the holy mission of seeing Him more clearly so that we can rejoice in His greatness which is truly manifest all around you.