Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 30, 2021
Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.
They were astonished and said,
“Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
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?
Where did this man get all this?”
And they took offense at him.
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.
I’ll never forget the line I once heard in a homily from an edgy, Southside Chicago pastor: “Sometimes we’re so focused on hearing God speak to us in a pastor’s preaching at church, that we miss God trying to speak to us through the homeless person in the parking lot.” I know in my own life that I can sometimes fall into the trap of having a rather limited imagination for the ways I expect God to speak to me. In reality, the ways that God often tries to speak to us can be quite shocking only because they are familiar and don’t quite fit our grand expectations of God!
For this reason, I feel I can relate to the reaction that the people in today’s gospel experienced when they met Jesus. They weren’t able to see this carpenter’s son, this Son of Mary, as the very Incarnate Word of God. To them, this was the regular kid they grew up alongside, who came from just another of the many families living in Nazareth. This was the neighborhood carpenter who labored beside them in those quieter days of his young adulthood. Now, this same familiar Jesus was standing in their midst sharing wisdom and working mighty deeds. “Where did this man get all this?,” they muttered to themselves. Because he was so familiar to them, they couldn’t imagine that he was anything special, let alone the Son of God!
But God is in the business of using both ordinary circumstances and ordinary people to speak to us. The challenge for us is not letting our ideas of how God ought to speak to us to block us from actually hearing!
Prayer
Lord, we know that the people of Jesus’ day were not the only ones to reject him and his Gospel. Even though we bear the name of Christian, we, too, all too easily seek to write and live our own Gospels, rather than the one preached by your Son, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Make Jesus and his Gospel the true cornerstone of our lives so that built on the rock who is Christ, we may be your Church, your living presence in this world. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Peter Chrysologus was a pivotal bishop who preserved the faith in his region of Italy in the fifth century. He was an adult convert to Christianity, then was ordained a deacon and priest before being raised to bishop of Ravenna in 433.
Many people were still practicing paganism in Ravenna when he began his work there, and this caused other Christians to fall away from the faith. He reformed and solidified the church there by encouraging frequent reception of Communion and with his preaching. Many of his homilies are still intact—most are brief because he did not want to exhaust the attention of his listeners. “Anyone who wishes to frolic with the devil cannot rejoice with Christ,” he told his people.
The witness of his life also converted many back to the faith—he was known to have offered many works of mercy, and he attended to the people under his care with diligence.
His title, “Chrysologus,” means “golden-tongued” so we know that he had a great impact on those who heard him. During his homilies, he would become so excited and animated that he would find himself at a loss for words. His simple and straightforward explanations of what we believe led the Church to declare him a doctor of the faith. He joins 36 other saints who are also known as doctors for the way their words or example taught the faith to others. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
This is an excerpt from one of his homilies:
Listen to the Lord’s appeal: … You may run away from me as the Lord, but why not run to me as your father? Perhaps you are filled with shame ... Do not be afraid. This cross inflicts a mortal injury, not on me, but on death. These nails no longer pain me, but only deepen your love for me. I do not cry out because of these wounds, but through them I draw you into my heart. My body was stretched on the cross as a symbol, not of how much I suffered, but of my all-embracing love. I count it no less to shed my blood: it is the price I have paid for your ransom. Come, then, return to me and learn to know me as your father, who repays good for evil, love for injury, and boundless charity for piercing wounds.
St. Peter Chrysologus, the doctor of the Church who preached with golden words, pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Peter Chrysologus is in the public domain. Last accessed March 20, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
