GOSPEL POWER | JULY 30, 2021 FRIDAY | Saint Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church 17th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 13: 54 – 58

Jesus came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.” And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.

Reflection

The sense of metanoia as a call to move beyond the narrow  confines of the stubborn ego-mind could not have been  demonstrated more clearly than in this episode of Jesus’  homecoming to Nazareth. The people’s initial reaction, on hearing  Jesus preach, is reported by Matthew as a movement of the heart —  “They were astonished.” Astonishment and wonder are doorways to  faith, but oftentimes, what shuts them is the ego-mind’s presumption  to know better — “Is he not the carpenter’s son?” Is not his mother  named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not  his sisters all with us? Metanoia happens only if the interior struggle  between mind and heart leads to their reconciliation, thus enabling the  person to move beyond the presumptuous ego-mind and to let oneself be  guided by wonder and astonishment to the new and untrodden path of  mystery. The Nazarenes had this chance but, sadly, lost it

Prayer

Lord Jesus, loosen our mind’s stubborn grip on presumed knowledge, that  it may yield to the heart’s astonishment and be led to metanoia. Amen