20251219 LIVING A BARREN LIFE
19 December 2025, Friday, 3rd Week of Advent
First reading |
Judges 13:2-7,24-25 |
'You will conceive and bear a son'
There was a man of Zorah of the tribe of Dan, called Manoah. His wife was barren, she had borne no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to this woman and said to her, ‘You are barren and have had no child. But from now on take great care. Take no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For you will conceive and bear a son. No razor is to touch his head, for the boy shall be God’s nazirite from his mother’s womb. It is he who will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines.’ Then the woman went and told her husband, ‘A man of God has just come to me; his presence was like the presence of the angel of God, he was so majestic. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not reveal his name to me. But he said to me, “You will conceive and bear a son. From now on, take no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For the boy shall be God’s nazirite from his mother’s womb to his dying day.”’
The woman gave birth to a son and called him Samson. The child grew, and the Lord blessed him; and the spirit of the Lord began to move him.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 70(71):3-6,16-17 |
My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.
Be a rock where I can take refuge,
a mighty stronghold to save me;
for you are my rock, my stronghold.
Free me from the hand of the wicked.
My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.
It is you, O Lord, who are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, since my youth.
On you I have leaned from my birth,
from my mother’s womb you have been my help.
My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.
I will declare the Lord’s mighty deeds
proclaiming your justice, yours alone.
O God, you have taught me from my youth
and I proclaim your wonders still.
My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.
Gospel Acclamation |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Root of Jesse, set up as a sign to the peoples,
come to save us,
and delay no more.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 1:5-25 |
'Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son'
In the days of King Herod of Judaea there lived a priest called Zechariah who belonged to the Abijah section of the priesthood, and he had a wife, Elizabeth by name, who was a descendant of Aaron. Both were worthy in the sight of God, and scrupulously observed all the commandments and observances of the Lord. But they were childless: Elizabeth was barren and they were both getting on in years.
Now it was the turn of Zechariah’s section to serve, and he was exercising his priestly office before God when it fell to him by lot, as the ritual custom was, to enter the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense there. And at the hour of incense the whole congregation was outside, praying.
Then there appeared to him the angel of the Lord, standing on the right of the altar of incense. The sight disturbed Zechariah and he was overcome with fear. But the angel said to him, ‘Zechariah, do not be afraid, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you must name him John. He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he must drink no wine, no strong drink. Even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the disobedient back to the wisdom that the virtuous have, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.’
Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.’ The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel who stand in God’s presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. Listen! Since you have not believed my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.’ Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were surprised that he stayed in the sanctuary so long. When he came out he could not speak to them, and they realised that he had received a vision in the sanctuary. But he could only make signs to them, and remained dumb.
When his time of service came to an end he returned home. Some time later his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept to herself. ‘The Lord has done this for me’ she said ‘now that it has pleased him to take away the humiliation I suffered among men.’
LIVING A BARREN LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [JUDGES 13:2-7,24-25; LUKE 1:5-25]
One of the most disheartening experiences in life is the feeling that our lives are barren. In other words, we sense that what we are doing is not life-giving or contributive to the lives of others. At best, we may feel that we are living only for ourselves, and even then, some of us feel that we have not achieved much in life. Compared to others, we may think that we are not doing well in our work, relationships, or service. In this way, the barren life of Manoah and his wife is symbolised by their childlessness. The same was true for Elizabeth and Zechariah, who were well advanced in years and yet had no children.
We can appreciate the struggles of couples who are childless in their married life. The love that exists between husband and wife does not seem complete without a child, who is the symbol of their fruitful love. With a child, their love is enriched, deepened, purified, and strengthened. Consequently, in ancient times and even today for some couples–marriage without children is perceived as incomplete. They recognise that if love remains enclosed within themselves and does not widen the circle of their intimate relationship, it may eventually wither. Love, to grow, must reach out beyond itself.
However, if we feel that our lives are somehow barren, Advent is a time to renew our hope and confidence in God’s faithfulness to the covenant He has made with His people. God is faithful to His word and does not withdraw His promises. This is evident in the miraculous conceptions of Manoah’s wife and Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah. Just when they thought they were destined to remain childless — especially Elizabeth and Zechariah, who had given up all hope because of their advanced age — God sent an angel to announce that they would bear a son. To Manoah and his wife, Samson would be born; to Elizabeth and Zechariah, John the Baptist would be born.
Yet, in His divine plan, God does not simply give a child without a purpose. Truly, every child has a role to fulfil in God’s plan. No one is created or born into this world without a purpose. It is therefore not enough merely to desire or treasure the gift of a child; we must also ask what God is calling that child to become. A child is not given to us like a pet for companionship, nor as a distraction from boredom or loneliness. A child is God’s creation, entrusted to us so that he or she may further God’s plan in the world. In the cases of Samson and John the Baptist, they were destined by God to bring hope and deliverance to His people in times of spiritual darkness and oppression by their enemies.
In the Book of Judges, the angel told Manoah’s wife that her son would accomplish great things for his people and prepare the way for Israel’s deliverance from the Philistines. Unfortunately, Samson did not always cooperate faithfully with God’s plan. He allowed his weakness to overcome him when he fell for the beauty of Delilah. After persistent persuasion, he revealed the secret of his strength, which she then betrayed to the Philistines. They cut off his hair, and he lost his strength and his ability to defend his people. Yet God, in His mercy, granted Samson another opportunity to redeem himself by allowing his hair to grow again. In his final act, Samson prayed for one last chance to fulfil his mission. With his remaining strength, he brought down the temple of Dagon, destroying both himself and the Philistines. In doing so, he saved his people at the cost of his own life. Truly, God is gracious and merciful; His plan cannot be thwarted even by human weakness, sin, or infidelity.
The same gracious plan is evident in the life of John the Baptist. Zechariah was instructed to name his son John, which means “God is gracious.” John was chosen to prepare God’s people to receive the Messiah. At his annunciation, the angel revealed his mission to Zechariah — he would be the forerunner for the Messiah. He would not just be the joy and delight of his parents and his people; he would “be great in the sight of the Lord, he must drink no wine, no strong drink. Even from his mother’s womb, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the disobedient back to the wisdom that the virtuous have, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.” Indeed, this was John’s lifelong mission.
To have such a child is a blessing beyond expectation. To know that one’s child will make a difference in the lives of others and contribute to the common good is a profound grace and honour. Parents naturally rejoice when their children serve society well — whether through public service, humanitarian work, priestly or religious life, or professions that promote healing and justice. Thus, the gift of a child is often only the beginning of even greater blessings to come.
This was how Zechariah felt when God spoke to him through the angel. Though he was a godly man from a priestly family and privileged to be chosen to serve in the inner court of the temple to offer sacrifice to God, God surprised him with an announcement beyond his imagination. Zechariah could not believe that God could really make his barren wife conceive. It was too good to be true. For his lack of faith, he was struck dumb. We should never limit the power of God to act in our lives.
For those of us who struggle to believe in God’s work within us, we are invited, like Zechariah, to spend time in silence and prayer. God draws us into His presence, hence we need to be quiet and silent before the Lord in contemplation. When it seems that nothing is happening in our lives, we must resist panic and trust that God is still at work. God waits for the right time to act. We need to hear His voice and discern how He is working in our lives through the angels and messengers that He sends us. It is not to say that God does not reach out to us because He does, but we are oblivious to His signs and messages passed on to us through the people around us.
Advent, therefore, is a time of prayer, expectation, and hope. It is a time for us to reflect on the relationship between barrenness and fruitfulness and to discern where and why our lives may be barren. We are called to be fruitful and life-giving. Sometimes barrenness arises from a lack of faith, the presence of sin, or our failure to cooperate with God’s will. Sin prevents us from being life-giving because we think only of ourselves and not about others. It was sin that caused Samson to be under the bondage of his enemies. He did not cooperate with the Spirit of God, depending on himself rather than on God. It was Zechariah’s lack of faith that caused him to be speechless. So if we allow the grace of God to work in us, as John the Baptist did, our lives will become fruitful and life-giving. We will become true forerunners of our Lord. The Holy Spirit was with John the Baptist, and he was a great prophet of God as the Lord Himself testified. “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Mt 11:11) So, like John the Baptist, let us rely on the Spirit of God and depend on Him to work in us and make our lives fruitful. Indeed, with the psalmist, we pray, “On you I have learned from my birth, from my mother’s womb you have been my help. I will declare the Lord’s mighty deeds proclaiming your justice, yours alone.”
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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