“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
23rd December 2017.
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SATURDAY, THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
Reading 1: Mal 3: 1-4, 23-24 The prophet Malachi foretells the coming of a messenger who will prepare the way for God’s own visit among his people.
Res. Psalm: Ps 24: 4-5, 8-10, 14 The Lord is good and upright. He shows the path to those who stray, He guides the humble in the right path, He teaches his way to the poor. Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
Gospel: Lk 1: 57-66Luke describes the astonishing events that accompanied the birth and circumcision of John, the messenger envisioned by Malachi.
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THE HAND OF THE LORD UPON US
At the circumcision ritual, a boy is named after his father, uncle or grandfather. He is invited into God's family. It was the Jewish equivalent of the Christian Baptism. Thus males were incorporated into the people of the covenant by the quasi-sacrificial shedding of blood. By receiving a name, the child received an identity as a person. To be given a name in the Temple or synagogue, that is, in the Lord's presence, conferred some share in the Lord's power.
Knowledge of the miraculous conception of John the Baptist and birth led the observers to exclaim "What, then, will this child be?" and "For surely the hand of the Lord was with him." Being an object of wonder and amazement, is very much a part of giving good example. This is precisely the mystery of grace at work to change us, to heal us, to impel us to greater efforts for the kingdom. Therefore God asks us to be the cause of wonder to others and to demonstrate his power in our lives. We need to give witness or testimony to his power in work and in word as well. None of us at our births probably provoked the question, "What, then, will this child be?" But the tenor of our lives and dedication to the kingdom should surely lead others to comment by the end of our earthly journey, "Was not the hand of the Lord upon him?"
The liturgy through advent with all the marvelous imagery and prophecy have ignited our minds and hearts. It is now time for us to leave history and reenter the present. Tomorrow night we are to celebrate the birth of the one responsible for all the excitement and mystification in history. The words of the Responsorial Psalm are now addressed to us: “Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.” Christ did that when he came shortly after John and did the work for which John prepared the way. Though redeemed, we are still capable of sin. There are still “unredeemed” areas of our lives that press us down. So today’s psalm is as much our prayer as it was the prayer of the people who lived before Christ. The time of the promises has ended, there is to be no more waiting, the time has begun for such promises to be fulfilled. God in his love for humanity intervenes and instills life into it once again. Let this intervention of God brings an explosion of joy in the life of all peoples.
Prayer: Lord, like a little child your son was born for us. Let every race on earth be blessed in Him. Prepare us to welcome your Son with ardent faith. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.