TUESDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Root of Jesse, set up as a sign to the peoples,
come to save us,
and delay no more.

JUDGES 13:2-7,24-25 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You can cause abundance from barren places just as You cause life to bloom from barren wombs and barren lives. All life flows from You and we are to live this gift of life in obedience and humility before the God of all creation. We are to safeguard what we have been given, we are to nurture it, and we are to live it always in the way that gives glory to God. 

Each of us is given an angel of God to guard, guide, and protect us. We are never alone. God's messenger who is appointed by God exclusively for us remains with us and before God and makes our prayers known to Him even as we pray and we receive God's response through our angel. Sadly we are unaware of this amazing gift God has given us. We neglect to appreciate and give thanks to God for our guardian angel and to make use of this ever-present help that is available to us.

Grant us this grace O Lord to be sensitive to the stirrings of grace in us and to cooperate always with this grace. May we allow God to allow the barren places in our hearts and lives to bloom as we remain always docile to the work of God in us. 

Today as we reflect on the birth of Samson who was conceived by the power of God in the wife of Manoah who was barren let us also ask You to touch our lives with Your Presence and with Your grace so our lives bear fruit in abundance for Your glory.

PSALM 70(71):3-6,16-17 ©

Be a rock where I can take refuge,
a mighty stronghold to save me;
for you are my rock, my stronghold.
Free me from the hand of the wicked.

It is you, O Lord, who are my hope,

my trust, O Lord, since my youth.
On you I have leaned from my birth,
from my mother’s womb you have been my help.

I will declare the Lord’s mighty deeds

proclaiming your justice, yours alone.
O God, you have taught me from my youth
and I proclaim your wonders still.

My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.

LUKE 1:5-25 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

In today's Gospel, we reflect on the visitation of the angel to Zechariah and his response to the astounding good news that he received concerning both him and his wife Elizabeth. We are told by the evangelist Luke that both he and his wife were worthy in God's sight and they observed all commandments and observance of the Lord scrupulously all their lives and yet their prayer for a child remained unanswered. Elizabeth we are told was barren and by this time both she and Zechariah were getting old. She was now past her child-bearing years. But with God time means nothing. You O Lord are the God of time and space and You are the God of the impossible. You make a way when there is seemingly no way.

The angel visited Zechariah when he was in the Lord's sanctuary. We read that he was disturbed and overcome with fear and the angel reassured him saying:  ‘Zechariah, do not be afraid, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you must name him John. He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he must drink no wine, no strong drink. Even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the disobedient back to the wisdom that the virtuous have, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.’ One would suppose that Zechariah, a man of God, familiar with salvation history and God's ability to do the impossible, would be delirious with joy and yet he says: ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.’ 

And the angel responds:  ‘I am Gabriel who stands in God’s presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. Listen! Since you have not believed my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.’ As a consequence of his lack of faith and disbelief in the message his power of speech was removed until the birth of his son, John. 

His wife Elizabeth on the other hand rejoiced because of what God had done for her:

Some time later his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept to herself. ‘The Lord has done this for me’ she said ‘now that it has pleased him to take away the humiliation I suffered among men.’

My Beloved, let us never lose faith, hope, and courage, but wait patiently on Your time, and Your will, and never doubt that all things are possible for those who believe. If we we do not receive what we ask then let us be confident that You desire to give us something far better. May I always, 'Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.'