December 24, 2015 Thursday
THE WORD
2 Sam 17: 1–5.8–12.14.16 / Lk 1: 67–79
Then Zechariah his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people. He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant, even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old: salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy to our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father, and to grant us that, rescued from the hand of enemies, without fear we might worship him in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
IN OTHER WORDS
One Christmas I was alone in the parish with two very young sacristans. I am not much of a cook and my mother was not there so I had no idea what our noche buena would be like. We had the midnight mass; everybody went home. And it was “silent night” in the convent. Then after some time a parishioner came bringing some food, then another and still another. And it became “joy to world” in the convent.
A grateful heart is a generous heart. Zechariah in the Gospel was filled with gratitude at God’s amazing gift to him and his wife Elizabeth, a son in their old age. So he sang this song of gratitude and praise. But very noticeable is the fact that Zechariah prophesied that his son will be God’s prophet. He was grateful for the gift of his son, but he was not going to treat him as his personal, exclusive property; instead, his son was going to be a gift to God and to His people Israel. As to the question, “What will become of this child?, Zechariah had an answer. The child was, is, and will always be a gift.
We always say that there is something different about Christmas. We tend to be more loving, and caring, and giving. Maybe because during this time we are reminded by the songs and by the enormity of God’s gift. This is nice and all but it would not hurt to always remember that even if the songs are silenced and the lights are dimmed, God’s gift was, is, and will always be the same. May we be grateful and generous in and out of season.
- Fr. Dante Salces Barril, SVD (Rome)
The Word in other words 2015
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
