Friday, June 24, 2016
Birth of John
the Baptist 1st Reading:
Isaiah 49:1-6
2nd Reading: Acts 13:22-26
Gospel: Luke 1:57-66, 80
When the time came for Elizabeth, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the merciful Lord had done a wonderful thing for her and they rejoiced with her.
When on the eighth day they came to attend the circumcision of the child, they wanted to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.” They said to her, “No one in your family has that name”; and they asked the father by means of signs for the name he wanted to give. Zechariah asked for a writing tablet and wrote on it, “His name is John,” and they were very surprised. Immediately Zechariah could speak again and his first words were in praise of God.
A holy fear came on all in the neighborhood, and throughout the Hills of Judea the people talked about these events. All who heard of it pondered in their minds and wondered, “What will this child be?” For they understood that the hand of the Lord was with him.
As the child grew up, he was seen to be strong in the Spirit; he lived in the desert till the day when he appeared openly in Israel.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
“John”, the name given to the cousin of Jesus, means, “God is gracious.” The name was Zechariah’s fitting tribute to Yahweh’s graciousness. The gift was not personal to Zechariah and Elizabeth. God used them as a showcase of His graciousness to all humanity. In giving them a son in their old age God gave to humanity a Baptizer who will prepare the way of the Messiah. In the favor given to them, God has been gracious to the entire human race.
Blessings are not personal to us. Each loaf of bread we receive after praying the Lord’s Prayer is God’s invitation that we become bread, blessed and broken for others. This way, God’s wheel of providence continues to roll. By grateful people becoming blessings to others, God becomes present to the poor. Often, the poor experience a distant God because God’s channels of distributions have shut the poor out in the cold. When those who are blessed refuse to re-distribute the blessings to their fellowmen, God’s machinery conks out. When it does, God appears to the poor like a distant God or a God sleeping on his responsibilities.
Let us be the poor’s answered prayers, setting aside selfish calculations. After all, the resources will not be depleted, for God is an inexhaustible supplier. By becoming one, we make God present in peoples’ lives, and make them shout from pole to pole that God is gracious! – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM., MMExM, MAPM., REB. Email:[email protected].
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