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,
God has visited His people all through salvation history and pledged to send someone to rescue them from their enemies. God can cause life to spring from barren wombs like he did for Samson's mother, for Hannah, Samuel's mother, and for Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Nothing is impossible or too difficult for our Father in Heaven.
God intervenes in impossible situations to show us that there is nothing He cannot or will not do to save us. We are His. We are purchased by the Blood of the Lamb. We belong irrevocably to God our Father. You, Beloved, paid the price of our redemption, and we are His and Yours forever. We can walk away, You O Lord, never will, for Your Covenant of Love with us is eternal.
Men are weak. We are sinners. We find it impossible to keep our vows. We are imperfect. We are creatures of concupiscence, and we see this time and again from the flawed leaders that God chose, beginning with Adam and Eve. It is only when God broke through time and space and sent His only Son to become incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary that hope and the fulfillment of all God's promises were born. It finally became possible for men to become like gods because the Son of God became a Man and by Your atoning Sacrifice on the Cross made us adopted children of Your Father. We dare to call Him Abba because You ask us to.
We are no longer barren but filled with the fruitful life of the Holy Spirit, who helps us to grow daily more and more in Your image and likeness with His ever-present and unfailing help. Thank You, Lord.
There was a man of Zorah of the tribe of Dan, called Manoah. His wife was barren, she had borne no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to this woman and said to her, ‘You are barren and have had no child. But from now on take great care. Take no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For you will conceive and bear a son. No razor is to touch his head, for the boy shall be God’s nazirite from his mother’s womb. It is he who will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines.’ Then the woman went and told her husband, ‘A man of God has just come to me; his presence was like the presence of the angel of God, he was so majestic. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not reveal his name to me. But he said to me, “You will conceive and bear a son. From now on, take no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For the boy shall be God’s nazirite from his mother’s womb to his dying day.”’
The woman gave birth to a son and called him Samson. The child grew, and the Lord blessed him; and the spirit of the Lord began to move him.
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.
There was a man of Zorah of the tribe of Dan, called Manoah. His wife was barren, she had borne no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to this woman and said to her, ‘You are barren and have had no child. But from now on take great care. Take no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For you will conceive and bear a son. No razor is to touch his head, for the boy shall be God’s nazirite from his mother’s womb. It is he who will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines.’ Then the woman went and told her husband, ‘A man of God has just come to me; his presence was like the presence of the angel of God, he was so majestic. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not reveal his name to me. But he said to me, “You will conceive and bear a son. From now on, take no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For the boy shall be God’s nazirite from his mother’s womb to his dying day.”’
The woman gave birth to a son and called him Samson. The child grew, and the Lord blessed him; and the spirit of the Lord began to move him.
PSALM 70(71):3-6,16-17
My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.
My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.
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
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