The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, December 23, 2004
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent
St. John Kanty, priest

O Come, Emmanuel,
God's presence among us, our King, our Judge:
Save us, Lord our God!

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Malachi 3:1-4,23-24
Psalm 25:4-5,8-10,4
Luke 1:57-66

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God. (Luke 1:64)

The words “humility“ and “obedience“ are fast vanishing from the modern vocabulary. We are taught that humility leads to career failure and within a marriage causes women to become underlings, mere servants. Parents no longer teach children obedience, fearing they will inspire their child's dislike or break their fragile spirit; hence they accept a youngster's disobediencce and erratic behavior.

These problems stem from our having lost the true meaning of “love,“ a word that requires a spirit of receiving and of giving, thus promoting unity between people. Without humility, not insisting on being number one, we cannot truly love but become selfish tyrants. Neither can we love if we refuse to listen to reason, accept another's ideas as superior to ours and worthy of being followed. Humility combined with obedience is man's only avenue to character growth and education. Humility allowed Christ, the very Son of God, to take on human flesh, and though innocent of any wrongdoing, die for our sins. Also, in His humanity He lived in perfect obedience to His heavenly Father; such is the nature of true love which He gave to His Father and to us. Disbelief in God is actually an insistence on living only by rules of our own making and the refusal of being accountable to a Being superior to ourselves.

Zechariah's lack of faith, doubting God's ability to fulfill His promise, showed a lack of humility, a highly inappropriate attitude in a priest. God rendered him mute until he humbly realized that his son was a gift from God given not only to him and his wife, but also to the world to perform a special task. In obedience and humility, Zechariah named his son John as God instructed rather than perpetrating his own name and lineage. Let us all see that our children belong first and foremost to God and that we owe them the best that He has given to us.

Loving Father,
help us to see that all things are possible to You.
Give us perfect faith and love,
that we may believe in and humbly live in Your Word, Jesus Christ.
Amen.

- Marie Bocko, OCDS
(mlbocko at earthlink dot net)

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posted by joachim at 5:31 AM