Reflection
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,
and news of him spread throughout the whole region.
Luke 4:14 -21
The gospel story tells us that Jesus returned to Nazareth and went to the synagogue and read these words from Isaiah:
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,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Then he announced that this was the basis of his mission. It became the source of his ministry of healing, the source of his message of hope and freedom, the bedrock of his life, and ultimately the clear challenge to the status quo that led to his death. His words echo today in the yearnings of people, in movements around the globe and in the call of those who would change the unjust systems that divide us, and they carry the same risk. We can look at history and list those who were denigrated or assassinated for trying to enflesh that message. Power is not released easily. Yet, our hopes will not die as our consciousness continues to evolve and slowly the realization is spreading that we are all one and we are responsible for one another.
Prayer
Blessed are the seekers.
Action
How do the words of Isaiah echo in me? How do I interpret “recovery of sight to the blind”? What are some signs that human consciousness is evolving?
Suggested Reading
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.
He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:14 -21
If we take the poor away from the Gospel, we won’t be able to understand the whole message of Jesus Christ.
Pope Francis
Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity.
Pope John Paul II
The world needs to see Christians burning, not with self-righteous fury at the sliding morals in our country, but with passion for God.
Kevin DeYoung
Every failure to cope with a life situation must be laid, in the end, to a restriction of consciousness. Wars and temper tantrums are the makeshifts of ignorance; regrets are illuminations come too late.
Joseph Campbell
God needs us awake. The world we live in is a co-creation, a manifestation of individual consciousness woven into a collective dream. How we are with each other as individuals, as groups, as nations and tribes, is what shapes that dream.
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
It’s exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness; it can also be confusing, disorienting, and painful.
Adrienne Rich
The kind of spirituality I value is one in which you get great joy out of contributing to life, not just sitting and meditating, although meditation is certainly valuable. But from meditation, from the resulting consciousness, I would like to see people in action creating the world they want to live in.
Marshall Rosenberg
Once again a new world view is arising … This idea is the culmination of all human history. It holds the promise of fulfilling the great aspirations of the past and heralds the advent of the next phase of our evolution. It is the idea of conscious evolution.
Barbara Marx Hubbard