REFLECTIONS TODAY
The manifestation of God’s glory through visions or the words of a messenger or angel always elicit fear in the human heart. Human beings feel their lowly condition and unworthiness. For this reason, they are told not to be afraid. When Isaiah saw the Lord attended by seraphim in a vision in the Temple, he felt doomed because he was a man of unclean lips. Only when his mouth was cleansed with ember did he feel cleansed and agreed to be a prophet (Is 6:1-8).
Similar is the reaction of the priest Zechariah when the angel Gabriel appears to him and tells him that he and Elizabeth will have a son, who will have the power and the spirit of Elijah to turn the children of Israel to the Lord. Zechariah can only react in disbelief. He and Elizabeth have long resigned to the fact that they would not have a son. How can this happen in their old age, and with Elizabeth being barren? For disbelieving, he is given a “sign”: he will be speechless and unable to talk until what the angel tells him will come to pass.
More than punishment, Zechariah enters into silence to reflect on the ways of the Lord, that to God nothing is impossible. Likewise in silence, he watches as the child grows in the womb of Elizabeth. His reflections will later be expressed in the canticle he will sing at the birth and circumcision of John (Lk 1:67-79).
First Reading • Jgs 13:2-7, 24-25a
There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no children.
An angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Though you are barren and have had no children, yet you will conceive and bear a son. Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drink and to eat nothing unclean.
As for the son you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb. It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines.” (…) The woman bore a son and named him Samson.
The boy grew up and the Lord blessed him; the Spirit of the Lord stirred him.
Gospel • Luke 1:5-25
In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.
Once when he was serving as priest in his division’s turn before God according to the practice of the priestly service, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense.
Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”
And the angel said to him in reply, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.” (…)Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home. After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she went into seclusion for five months, saying, “So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.”
Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.