In Sync

I worked for several years putting together a little daily meditation, Jesus At My Side, published by Our Sunday Visitor. I gathered all the words in Scripture that were spoken by Jesus and meditated on how they pertain to today. I am no Scripture scholar and do not pretend to be. No, these are not interpretations of what I believe Jesus was trying to tell us. The book is merely what I believe Jesus wants me to do with His words. Each year as I meditate on these words, I hear something new. The idea of the book is that readers would take His words and use them in their own ways, meditate on what He is saying to them today. My meditations are merely an idea of what I have heard from Him.
Today and many times, Jesus words are right in sync with the Gospel reading for the day. Again, we hear about "a year acceptable to the Lord". Again, I shall try to make this year acceptable.

January 9

"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."  Luke 4:18,19

A year acceptable to the Lord! As we walk around or watch television , we can easily see how unacceptable our world is today. In our communities, we see children who cannot play together and neighbors who squabble over property lines and adults talking bad about one another, slandering names. In our cities we see violence and poverty and stealing and cheating. In our countries we see war and death and destruction. Unacceptable. Prayer is the answer. Prayer changes things.  Mary has delivered the message more than once to pray the rosary for peace; for our neighborhoods, for our cities, for our countries. 

Jesus tells us that He has come to clear up all these problems. He is right here in our midst day in and day out and He was sent to free the world of our own misery. To bring glad tidings.  To liberate.  To recover. To free. We must believe in Jesus’ power to save our neighborhoods and our cities and our countries. He is sent to free us from our blindness and to open our eyes to the gifts He offers. Through Him, we can make a change. Listen to His words. Help make this a year acceptable to the Lord. Pray.