20211223 WAITING IN SILENT CONTEMPLATION
23 December, 2021, Thursday, 4th Week of Advent
First reading |
Malachi 3:1-4,23-24 © |
Before my day comes, I will send you Elijah my prophet
The Lord God says this: Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made. The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be welcomed by the Lord as in former days, as in the years of old.
Know that I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before my day comes, that great and terrible day. He shall turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the hearts of children towards their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 24(25):4-5,8-9,10,14 © |
Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour.
Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
He guides the humble in the right path,
He teaches his way to the poor.
Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
His ways are faithfulness and love
for those who keep his covenant and law.
The Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him;
to them he reveals his covenant.
Stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
Gospel Acclamation |
Alleluia, alleluia!
King of the peoples
and cornerstone of the Church,
come and save man,
whom you made from the dust of the earth.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 1:57-66 © |
'His name is John'
The time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to a son; and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had shown her so great a kindness, they shared her joy.
Now on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother spoke up. ‘No,’ she said ‘he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘But no one in your family has that name’, and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And they were all astonished. At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God. All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea. All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. ‘What will this child turn out to be?’ they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.
WAITING IN SILENT CONTEMPLATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Mal 3:1-4,23-24; Luke 1:57-66]
We are very near to the Nativity of our Lord. Some of us are busy buying and wrapping Christmas gifts for our loved ones and shopping for grocery for our celebrations. In the midst of the hustle and bustle, it is very difficult to keep still and listen to the Lord. Our minds are distracted with many tasks yet to be accomplished. This is why the Church, whilst not wishing to dampen the joy of anticipating the celebration of Christmas, invites us to make time for silence and contemplation. Otherwise, we might be so busy with our preparations and celebrations, and miss the Birthday boy when He comes.
Indeed, it important to take note that Jesus was born in the silence of the night when the whole world was asleep. He came without fanfare, without a welcome party. He came quietly to Bethlehem in a manger. “She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” (Lk 2:7) Jesus came to those who were awake to welcome Him. We read that “In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.” (Lk 2:8) They were not asleep but were keeping watch. So too were the Magi. They were patiently following the star that led them to Bethlehem.
We too are invited to keep watch like the shepherds and the Magi so that when the time comes, God can reveal the Good News to usthrough His angels saying, “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Lk 2:10f) Rejoicing can only come for those who are ready to receive Him as their Lord and Saviour. That was why Herod and the religious leaders did not meet the Saviour because they were not watching in silence but waiting to destroy Him.
This necessity of waiting in contemplation is the theme of today’s scripture readings as we approach nearer the feast of Christmas. In the first reading from the prophet Malachi, he prophesied that the Lord would send His messenger to prepare a way before Him. He is going to send the prophet Elijah, the greatest of all prophets to prepare the people to receive Him. “He shall turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the hearts of children towards their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse.” For when the Lord comes, the prophet said, “Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For his is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seat as the refiner and the purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made.”
Yet it is notable that after the last message from the Prophet Malachi, prophecy was silent for four hundred years until John the Baptist came to the scene. In other words, God stopped speaking to the people because their hearts were not ready to hear Him. They needed another Elijah to turn their hearts back to God. But God needed to keep them hungering for the Word of God before He sent John the Baptist. When he was born, Zechariah broke into a hymn of thanksgiving. “He has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.” (Lk 1:68,72-77) Indeed, John the Baptist was that messenger that prepared the way for the Lord. He is the prophet that connects the Old and New Testament. In him, the Word of God has once again come alive.
This is why John the Baptist is truly a gift of God. When he was born, we read that “on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother spoke up. ‘No,’ she said ‘he is to be called John.'” How did Elizabeth know that this was the name the angel commanded Zechariah to give to him? This is not mentioned, after all Zechariah was dumb after encountering the angel. Not too convinced that it was the right name, they “made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John’. And they were all astonished.” Indeed, his name means “God is gracious.” They were amazed that God gave Elizabeth the capacity to conceive a child in her old age. But John the Baptist was not just a gift to Elizabeth and Zechariah but to the people of Israel. God had once again shown His favour to Israel as Zechariah proclaimed. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.” (Lk 1:68)
But such realization could only come about because Zechariah and Elizabeth kept silent all this while when John the Baptist was conceived. Earlier on, Zechariah was struck dumb because he did not believe in the angel’s message. “Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.’ The angel replied, ‘But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.'” (Lk 1:18,20) Elizabeth also kept silent and told no one about it. “After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, ‘This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.'” (Lk 1:24f)
These months of silence were time for them to reflect on how God was working in their lives. We can be sure that after being struck dumb, Zechariah would have reflected on the angel’s message. “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Lk 1:14-17) When he thought of the implications of the angel’s announcement of what John would do, he could understand clearly why the angel asked him to name his son, John! We can see the depth of his reflection during his period of silent contemplation when he broke out in joy and filled with the Holy Spirit spoke the prophecy regarding Israel and the work that John the Baptist was called to do.
Similarly, it was during the silent contemplation that when Mary visited Elizabeth, immediately, upon Mary’s greeting, “the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.'” (Lk 1:41-45) All these were the result of the fruits of prayer. The evangelist underscored that when they spoke, they did so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Now it is our turn to reflect. Like the people who, when they heard it, “treasured it in their hearts. ‘What will this child turn out to be?’ they wondered”, we too must wonder in silence how the “hand of the Lord was with him.” We must make time to reflect on how the Lord continues to work in the lives of the prophets He sent to us in the past and in the present. What is the Lord asking us to do? Is it a call to repentance from sin as what John the Baptist was called to do? Or is it a greater contemplation so that we will be amazed at the power of God at work in our lives today as He did 2000 years ago in the lives of Zechariah and Elizabeth and John the Baptist; Mary, Joseph and our Lord? Let us reflect so that we can rejoice deeply.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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