Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 7, 2024
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Returning home is not always the warm, Hallmark channel ad brimming with nostalgia and domestic aroma that it promises to be. Perhaps one’s room has been rearranged, or the family has moved locations altogether, or the loss of a loved one brings silence to a previously laughter-filled space.
At times, a place you once left might not feel like home at all.
In the stressful years of college, there were times I eagerly anticipated returning home for breaks, only to find a place I didn’t recognize. Whether it was the dwindling health of loved ones, frantic house repairs requiring upheaval of furniture, or deeper wrinkles in the eyes of those who once carried you to bed, the gradual changes of home are made starker after periods of absence.
When Jesus is admonished in the synagogue, it is not by a close-minded community weary of an outsider’s teachings. It is by the ones who knew him as a boy: a young carpenter raised by Mary and Joseph in a tight-knit Nazarine community. Jesus’ critics once saw him as a child playing amongst friends and studying carpentry with Joseph. By holding onto their preconceptions of a home they once knew, Jesus’ own community is blind to his teachings and divinity.
Despite our desperate clinging to memories of a perfect home, the demand for adaptation to new circumstances is characteristic of our time on Earth. Jesus’ admonishment in his own native land serves as a reminder of the only home that awaits us with unchanging perfection—unity in God and the communion of saints.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, give us today a faith to believe in you. You are the one sent by the Father to reconcile the world and to forgive us of our sins. Perfect our doubts, purify our lips, that we may only speak and act for your glory and praise. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Blessed Maria Romero Meneses was a modern-day social reformer who brought about a “revolution of charity” in Costa Rica.
She was born in Nicaragua in 1902, one of eight children who grew up in an upper class family. Maria received a very good education at a school staffed by sisters in a religious community founded by St. John Bosco, who were know as the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians.
When she was 12 years old, Maria fell sick with rheumatic fever, and struggled all year to regain her health. She was completely paralyzed for six months, but was patient and prayerful in her suffering, which she saw as a gift from God. Doctors reported that her heart was damaged from the sickness, but she appealed to Our Lady, Help of Christians, and received some sort of assurance that she would be healed.
When a friend from school visited her, she said, “I know that the Blessed Virgin will cure me.” A few days later, she regained her health and returned to school, fully recovered.
A spiritual director helped her sort through and better understand the mystical experiences she was having, and she realized that she was being called to religious life. She joined the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians and closely followed the spirituality of John Bosco.
In 1931, she was sent to Costa Rica, where she taught at a school for girls from wealthy families. She also went into the poor neighborhoods to teach the faith there and to help people acquire practical skills for work. Her example moved students at the school, and many girls joined her work to improve the lives of the poor.
Maria began to understand her purpose in life—to encourage social development by helping wealthy people see how they could change the lives of poor people. She gathered resources and established recreational centers and food distribution organizations. In 1961, she opened a school for poor girls and a few years later, she opened a clinic and supported it by recruiting doctors and finding donations for medicine.
She had a vision to build a village for poor people that contained all they needed to flourish. In 1973, the first seven homes were built in a new development outside of the city named Centro San Josè—it grew to include a farm, a market, and a school where people could learn the faith and find job training. It also included a church dedicated to Our Lady, Help of Christians.
Maria knew that she was participating in God’s work, so she had every confidence that her efforts at social development would grow. She died of a heart attack on this date in 1977, and she is buried in the chapel in San Josè. She is the first Central American to be beatified.
Bl. Maria Romero Meneses, you brought about a revolution of charity in Costa Rica in the 1970s—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Maria Romero Meneses is in the public domain. Last accessed March 19, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
