Today Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (13: 54-58) in which Jesus, when visiting his hometown says, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house’.

Fr Paul says in the passage we hear today Jesus returns home and he is rejected by those in the synagogue that he speaks to. The people in his hometown ask questions about the family of Jesus; they know his origins; they know of what he once was. We are also told Jesus did not work many miracles here because of the people’s lack of faith.

Matthew frequently stresses that faith is a pre-condition before Jesus can perform any miracles. Often in Matthew we will hear that Jesus heals someone and says ‘Your faith has healed you’. We, too, must have faith in Jesus if we want to see his power at work in our lives.

With this in mind, Fr Paul says he can’t help thinking back to yesterday when we had the feast of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.  If you look at the faith that Martha had in Jesus that I emphasised in yesterday’s reflection is it any wonder that Jesus worked the miracle he did by raising Lazarus from the dead?

So again, for our reflection today, we too, must have faith in Jesus if we want to see his power at work in our lives, here and now.