REFLECTIONS ON THE WORD – 12/23/21 (Thursday)

Luke 1:63-64

63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." And they all marveled. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.

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Blessed Thursday of the 4th Week of Advent! In our gospel reading, St. Elizabeth gave birth to St. John the Baptist. On the circumcision day, their relatives and neighbors immediately thought of calling the child "Zechariah" after his father, but Elizabeth decided of the name "John." When they asked St. Zechariah of the name of the child, he wrote the name "John" on a tablet. He was suddenly healed from being mute, and he praised God. In silence, St. Zechariah was able to discern the will of God for his child leading him to glorify our Lord. 

Two days from now, we will celebrate Christmas. For many people, they dedicated long time in order to decide the gifts to be given to their family members and friends. However, Jesus is calling us to do something better. He is calling us to be an offering to God and to be a gift to people whom we love. Our Savior is reminding us that we should reflect on our relationship with people around us and spend time with God in silence. This is helpful for us to know how He wants us to express our love for them. As we ponder on our past experiences, we may remember, not just the good moments, but the bitter moments as well. We may remember how easy it is for us to neglect giving attention to our family within our home. We may remember how easy it is for us to be frustrated and angry with one another. We may remember how easy it is for us to gossip and speak bad things towards someone. Why does this happen? Perhaps, it happens because we act on our own immediately based on what we feel, and we don't take time to be silent and reflect whether our actions are in accordance to God's will or not. When we do not practice this examination in our lives, we may reject His guidance and truth. Rather than being enlightened by the light of God's wisdom, we may dwell on the darkness of our sins. 

May we always ask God and listen to Him in silence as to how we can love the people He has given to us. He will grant us humility to know what is good in His sight. When we always reflect and listen to Christ, He will guide us in the right path, and we will bear fruit of glorifying God, both in our actions and our words. Let us always trust in Him who purifies our hearts, and we can have the hope of offering ourselves to Him for eternity in His heavenly Jerusalem. 

Amen +

 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May God bless us and may He grant us the grace to discern His will in silence. May He rescue us from the darkness through the light of Christ. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic