Friday, December 22, 2006
SATURDAY 3RD WEEK OF ADVENT
DECEMBER 23, 2006
SATURDAY 3RD WEEK OF ADVENT - YEAR II
MALACHI 3:1-4, 23-24
Thus says the Lord GOD: Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the
way before me; And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD
whom you seek, And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who will endure the
day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like
the refiner's fire, or like the fuller's lye. He will sit refining
and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, Refining
them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to
the LORD. Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the
LORD, as in the days of old, as in years gone by. Lo, I will send
you Elijah, the prophet, Before the day of the LORD comes, the great
and terrible day, To turn the hearts of the fathers to their
children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I
come and strike the land with doom.
LUKE 1:57-66
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth
to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown
his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they
came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to
call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in
reply, "No. He will be called John." But they answered her, "There
is no one among your relatives who has this name." So they made
signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked
for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name," and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke
blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these
matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who
heard these things took them to heart, saying, "What, then, will this
child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him."
REFLECTION
The prophet Malachi-regarded as the last of the prophets- describes
in the first reading events that will precede the coming of the
Messiah. He predicts that one day God's messenger will come to
prepare the Messiah's way. Malachi thought, as the reading
indicates, that the precursor would be Elijah, returned to earth.
Jesus, you'll recall, corrected this notion. He told his disciples
that Elijah would come, indeed had already come, in the person of
John the Baptist. John exercised his ministry in the spirit of
Elijah.
Elijah's commitment was centered totally on Yahweh, the God of
Israel. During his lifetime he struggled fiercely to destroy the
cults of the pagan idols that drew so many of God's people from
Yahweh. John's commitment imitated Elijah's. He went out to the
Jordan dressed like Elijah, and with words as strong and as fierce as
Elijah's. He preached an urgent message of repentance and
conversion.
This John, fearlessly committed to the cause of the God of Israel, is
the baby we see in the Gospel, the reason for the wonder and awe
that "descended on all in the neighborhood, throughout the hill
country of Judea." Elizabeth's delivery of the child, though she had
been barren and was past childbearing age, her insistence that the
child be called John, and Zechariah's support of his wife's choice of
a name though the name John was foreign to their families, and the
sudden restoration of Zechariah's power of speech, all this astounded
and awed the people of the area and set them to asking in
wonderment, "What will this child be?"
What, indeed, will this child be? He will prepare the way for
the "one who is to come" - the child Jesus, his cousin, the child
about whom we will gather in two days' time, who will stir up in us
far greater awe and wonderment.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
- for the healing and speedy recovery of Teri.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Beatrice Lim Le Hun
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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