“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Saturday, 17thDecember 2016,
Third Week of Advent
Gen 49: 2, 8-10;
Ps 71: 1-4, 7-8, 17;
Mt 1: 1-17
DO YOU KNOW GOD’S PLANS FOR YOU?
Today, we enter into the ‘octave’ of immediate preparation for the birth of Christ. On this day, we are presented with the genealogy of Jesus’ ancestors. Matthew’s Gospel present us with three series of fourteen ancestors. Abraham begins the genealogy and Jesus concludes it. “The gospel begins by naming Jesus Christ as the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. This shows the direct link from the promise God made to Abraham, to its fulfillment in the person of the Jesus, the Son of God.
Through the fulfillment of this promise, we see that God is faithful. It took centuries for His promise to Abraham to be fulfilled, but it happened nonetheless. This also tells us that God’s timing and His ways are often different than what we may conceive. We can come up with many “good” ideas and hope they will come to pass. But, all too often, when they do not turn out immediately as we had hoped for, we can get discouraged.
Let us reflect upon the plan God has for our life. It might not be as we have been guessing or like we have been praying. But it is satisfying that it is for our good, it is for our wonderful union with him in heaven. Jesus was born that he might draw all of us to himself. Today, Jesus wants you and me to surrender our ideas and our ambitions. He requires all of this and more. He wants us to recommit ourselves to the perfect plan in the heart of our Father in Heaven.
Prayer: Lord, I know Your ways are perfect and that Your plans are so often not my own. Help me to let go of my own ideas and desires and to surrender more deeply, in trust, to all that You have prepared for me. Lord, Your wisdom is perfect. Help me to believe that with all my heart. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen