Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint 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.”
What will this child be?
1. Gave birth. Everything comes in its own time. Do not deny the present, nor be impatient about what is to come. Stop imagining situations that might never occur. Everything happens for a reason in God’s perfect plan in your life. The key is to learn from what you are going through at present, to apply those lessons in the future, in “your” future, because of course it depends on you. Many times, we go through repeated situations in our life because we didn’t learn from our mistakes. We must learn the lessons each of our mistakes teaches us and be open to the surprises God has in store for us.
2. He will be called John. The choice of John’s name became big problem for neighbors and friends, because they wanted to call him Zechariah, after his father. This teaches me two things: on the one hand, how God disrupts structures and shows us that not everything is done the way it has always been done. And, secondly, that we human beings love to cause problems over minor things. Instead of celebrating the joy of Elizabeth becoming a mother, we worry over the fact that the child’s name will not be Zechariah. And we go on and on about a trivial matter.
3. The message. Here we realize that we like to focus on the messenger rather than on the message. We care more about the packaging than about the content. A great lesson that God teaches us is that we must go back to the essential and see the essence of life. Marvel at life and the people around you. Stop looking at the résumé of the people who helped you and brought you to God. Look at how beautiful life is and don’t dwell on the things that give you bitterness. You must learn that life is fleeting and that God always gives new opportunities, every day. But you must be aware of these opportunities and take advantage of them. Let yourself be transformed by God.
Remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you, be with you and protect you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
