Every day we wake up is a blessing. It means we’re alive! And for me, that means I still continue to do what I do—preach every week, give talks for government and top companies around the country (I fly an average of once a week), do concerts, run a growing school, serve as consultant to numerous organizations, and more—all the while being a husband and a father.

I believe I’m not too old yet, but I’m also not young anymore. So, people ask me, “How do you do it?” Well, for leadership, I delegate. For the preaching and talks, I’ve quite mastered it over the decades. For family, I have a supportive and understanding wife and children.

Yet I acknowledge I can’t really do these on my own—especially with the strength, energy, and endurance I need. That’s why I simply and boldly answer, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” unworthy as I am. So, while I still have breath, I will go where the Spirit leads and do what He anoints me to do.

Alvin Barcelona (apb_ayo@yahoo.com)

reflect

What have you been called and anointed to do? Do it. The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.

“Come, Holy Spirit, I need You. Come, Holy Spirit, I pray. Come with Your strength and Your power. Come in Your own special way.”

Saint Gudula, pray for us.

According to Jesus, the two commandments—to love God and to love our neighbor—sum up the Law and the prophets. These commandments are linked in such a way that you cannot have one without the other. Here, Jesus implies that loving God leads to loving our neighbor, and that loving our neighbor is a step toward loving God.

¹⁹ Beloved, we love God because he first loved us. ²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹ This is the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. ^5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him. ² In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. ³ For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,  ⁴ for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 72:1-2, 14, 15, 17

R: Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

¹ O God, with your judgment endow the king, and with your justice, the king’s son; ² he shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment. (R) ¹⁴ From fraud and violence he shall redeem them, and precious shall their blood be in his sight. ¹⁵ May they be prayed for continually; day by day shall they bless him. (R) ¹⁷ May his name be blessed forever; as long as the sun, his name shall remain. In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed; all the nations shall proclaim his happiness. (R)

Gospel | Luke 4:14-22

This is the manifesto of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel that comes from the Book of Isaiah. It tells us that Jesus has been anointed to bring the Gospel to the poor—the captives, the sick, the enslaved—to proclaim liberty and a year of favor. This is a comprehensive mandate for us sinners. God’s saving work reaches into every person’s life.

Gospel Acclamation

The Lord has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives.

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. ¹⁵ He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. ¹⁶ He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read ¹⁷ and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: ¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹ and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. ²⁰ Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. ²¹ He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

Reflect

How did Jesus set you free from the sin that has imprisoned you?

What does this gift of freedom mean to you?

Read the Bible in one year! Read MATTHEW 9 - 12 today.

We often hear it said that Jesus came not to give us a religion but a relationship. If by religion they mean a mindless following of a set of moral rules and performance of empty rituals, then they are right. But that is not what Jesus was all about.

Common dictionary defines religion as respect for a sense of right, moral obligation, sanctity, what is sacred, and reverence for the gods. It is derived from the Latin word “religare,” which means “to integrate and to tie together.”

If religion is truly what it is—the genuine worship of the true God and the reverence for the sacred, clear doctrinal formulations, a commitment for what is good and noble, and the legal and ethical regard for every person as a child of God—then religion can never be divorced from one’s relationship with Him. In fact, religion is what will safeguard the genuineness of one’s relationship with God. Without religion, one may actually be having an imagined sentimental relationship with Him, or worse, a relationship with oneself.

Today’s First Reading reminds us that our love of God has clear legal and ethical imperatives: “And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” Likewise, “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. . . .” The Apostle John proposes that the laws of God do not prevent; they protect. They do not constrict; they liberate.

I remember a carton strip about a boy who resents religion. It showed him jumping over a fence labeled as “religion” while saying, “I hate this fence. I’m jumping over it.” His friend tried to stop him, saying: “Wait, it’s not a fence—it’s a guardrail.” The next scene showed the boy jumping over the guardrail and into a deep ravine. 

Fr. Joel O. Jason

reflection question

How do you see religion and God’s commands—a fence or a guardrail?

Pray over these words of Jesus: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8: 31-32).

Today, I pray for: ________________________________________