There shall be no strange god among you nor shall you worship any alien god. I, the LORD, am your God who led you forth from the land of Egypt. Sing with joy to God our help.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 13:54-58, today's readings).

But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house." And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.

The psalm for today presents the words of the Lord to the Israelites. "There shall be no strange god among you. . . ." In the Gospel, Jesus is in his hometown of Nazareth among neighbors and family friends, when they say of him: "Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter's son?" They name Mary, and his brothers and sisters, family members, and say out of bewilderment. "Where did this man get all this." Among his own townspeople, Jesus would have been no stranger, yet they rejected him despite witnessing his words and miraculous works. The greater truth that some would come to believe is that Jesus was no strange god among them but the Son of the Most High.

Father in heaven, I know that Jesus is present in many ways, foremost in the real presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Help me see Jesus also present in the faces of the people I encounter today and in their words and actions. Those closest who bear Christ and manifest his presence are often the ones most taken for granted. Give me the grace, Lord, to pause and see in them, as Saint Paul said, "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious." Let me consider how Christ is in my midst, right her in my native place. Saint Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.