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Commentary on the Gospel for Friday, January 10, 2025
The entrance antiphon for today’s Mass says: In darkness, a light shines: the Lord who is just, merciful, and compassionate. The Gospel of Luke recounts Jesus’ first public act in the synagogue of Nazareth, where He announces His mission as the Anointed One and calls for conversion.
This same passage inspires the third luminous mystery of the Rosary. Twenty years ago, Saint John Paul II published the apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, adding five Luminous Mysteries to the 15 traditionally meditated on in the Rosary. The Luminous Mysteries focus on the public life of Christ: His Baptism in the Jordan, His self-revelation at the wedding in Cana, His proclamation of the Kingdom of God with a call to conversion, the Transfiguration, and the institution of the Eucharist.
**In the third mystery, we reflect on the passage from Luke that recounts Jesus’ role as a reader in the synagogue of Nazareth—the first proclamation. In the popular series The Chosen, the scene emphasizes how Jesus intentionally selects the scroll containing the verses from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to give sight to the blind, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners, and to announce a year of the Lord’s favor.” It is the first proclamation of light. After the reading, Jesus said, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Light for the poor, the suffering, the captives, the prisoners, the blind—in other words, for all of us, for all humanity. In some way, who among us isn’t poor, wounded, captive, or imprisoned? Who doesn’t need liberation? Who doesn’t long for salvation? Who isn’t blind in some way? Of course, some might believe (and that person is surely the poorest and most unfortunate of all) that they don’t need salvation, light, or God. For this reason, in addition to giving thanks and asking for Christ’s light to heal and soften our hearts, it is good and merciful to proclaim the Gospel—the good news that is Jesus Himself—and to pray for the conversion of those who do not yet know Him or who have closed themselves off to His light.