20231223 23 December 2023, Saturday
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.
WELCOMING THE GIFT OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Mal 3:1-4,23-24; Luke 1:57-66]
Christmas is just round the corner. Are you ready to receive this great gift of God? We are entering into the 7th day of the Octave before Christmas. At Christmas, God is going to give us the greatest gift of all time, the gift of Himself in the person of Christ. This is what John says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16) Christ’s birth in our hearts at Christmas depends on whether we have a room for Him in our inn. Accordingly, knowing that many of us are still unprepared, distracted by work or by material and external preparations for this feast and the festivities during this time of the year, the Church makes a last attempt to get us ready. It is still not too late to prepare ourselves to receive the Saviour of the world. So what must we do?
We need to purify our hearts to receive Him. This is what the prophet Malachi is inviting us to do. He told the Israelites who were unfaithful to the Lord and His covenant, “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 his is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali.” All of us are called to be purified like gold or silver. To purify such metals, they are placed in the kiln under great and intense heat till the metal melts so that the impurities can surface to the top. They are then skimmed off and what is left is the purified metal and if we look at it, we can see the reflection of our faces.
Significantly, the people that need the most purification are the leaders, according to Malachi. This includes teachers, parents and religious leaders. He said, “He will take his sear 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.” This is because we determine how others behave accordingly. As parents, leaders and priests, we need to purify ourselves first because unless we are purified we cannot help our children or those under our charge. Leaders must examine their own lives and their hearts, learn to let go of their hurts and live a life of integrity so that they can find peace in their hearts.
To help us purify ourselves, the Lord sent us His messenger in the person of John the Baptist, the New Elijah. This is what the prophet said, “The Lord God says this: Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me.” Indeed, John the Baptist was the new Elijah who was to prepare the way for the Lord, the Messiah to come. He was the one who was to bring about the conversion of hearts through the repentance of sins. “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.” He was the one to prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord.
For this reason, the gospel narrates the triple joy of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Firstly, the humiliation and shame of Elizabeth, who was barren, was removed. St Luke wrote, “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.” The birth of John the Baptist was a great joy to Elizabeth herself.
But it was not just the birth of a baby, it was the birth of a baby boy. In those days, when a baby was about to be born, friends, relatives and musicians would gather outside the house, ready to celebrate the coming of a new baby. When it was a boy, the musicians would play and everyone would rejoice. If it was a girl, then sadly and silently, the musicians would depart! So the birth of John the Baptist would have brought great joy to the parents and the relatives.
But most importantly, this was no ordinary boy. He had been called to be a prophet. The future of this boy was anticipated by signs. It is significant that with the birth of John the Baptist, the tongue of Zechariah was released. He could speak and hear again after being silent from the day the angel announced this great gift given to them because he did not believe. This is very symbolic of the Israelites who did not believe in the word of the prophets who called them to repentance from their sins. As a consequence, the Lord stopped sending any more prophets after Malachi. For 400 years, there was silence until the coming of John the Baptist, the beginning of the New Testament. With the birth of John the Baptist, the New Testament begins, because prophecy had returned once again.
He came as a forerunner for the Messiah. As the psalmist says, he will teach us the path of the Lord. “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. 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.” He has been called to holiness himself as he was circumcised on the 8th day so that he became a member of the chosen people of God.
Indeed, John the Baptist, as he was named, truly is a gift of God. For this reason, he was not given a name that was related to one of the family’s name, as was the custom. Instead, his name expresses the goodness and kindness of God. Since he was given as a gift, then he was rightly named by the Angel, who instructed Elizabeth and Zechariah to give him the name “John.” What does it mean for us as we prepare for the feast of Christmas because Christ is the greatest of all gifts, far greater than John? God is not contented with giving us anything less than the gift of Himself. We too must become gifts of God to each other.
Firstly, that every child is a gift of God should make us treasure everyone, young and old, as children of God. We are called to look at each other as the gift of God to us. We are called to treasure each other and appreciate the goodness in each other. Every child has great potentials in her or him. It is said that we are like a gift with many wrappers. Indeed, as the people remarked about John the Baptist, “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.”
Secondly, how this gift will unwrap itself depends on how we unwrap it. If we do it gently, with love and care, the gift will remain intact and will be precious. If everyone is a gift from God, then we must guard him or her. Leaders, parents, teachers, guardians, and religious leaders have a grave responsibility in the way they treat their children, subordinates and members. They can bring out the best in them, or the worst. So it is important that we be good mentors and leaders. We need to walk the talk and show the way. As leaders, like John the Baptist, we are called bring the light of Christ to prepare people to receive Him into their hearts.
For this to happen, let us, above all, not just give gifts, important as they are, but to give ourselves to each other in love and humble service. There is nothing greater than to give ourselves to others by our lives, our examples and kindness. So we need to purify our hearts to receive the Lord. We need to remove the hardness of our hearts, the sins from our hearts, especially that of anger, resentment, hatred, unforgiveness and, most of all, the lack of integrity in our lives. People who continue to live in their sins need to purify themselves if they are to receive the Lord. In this way, we too become the gift of God in person.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved. The contents of this page may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission from the Archbishop’s Office. This includes extracts, quotations, and summaries.
23 December 2023, Saturday
WELCOMING THE GIFT OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Mal 3:1-4,23-24; Luke 1:57-66]
Christmas is just round the corner. Are you ready to receive this great gift of God? We are entering into the 7th day of the Octave before Christmas. At Christmas, God is going to give us the greatest gift of all time, the gift of Himself in the person of Christ. This is what John says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16) Christ’s birth in our hearts at Christmas depends on whether we have a room for Him in our inn. Accordingly, knowing that many of us are still unprepared, distracted by work or by material and external preparations for this feast and the festivities during this time of the year, the Church makes a last attempt to get us ready. It is still not too late to prepare ourselves to receive the Saviour of the world. So what must we do?
We need to purify our hearts to receive Him. This is what the prophet Malachi is inviting us to do. He told the Israelites who were unfaithful to the Lord and His covenant, “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 his is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali.” All of us are called to be purified like gold or silver. To purify such metals, they are placed in the kiln under great and intense heat till the metal melts so that the impurities can surface to the top. They are then skimmed off and what is left is the purified metal and if we look at it, we can see the reflection of our faces.
Significantly, the people that need the most purification are the leaders, according to Malachi. This includes teachers, parents and religious leaders. He said, “He will take his sear 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.” This is because we determine how others behave accordingly. As parents, leaders and priests, we need to purify ourselves first because unless we are purified we cannot help our children or those under our charge. Leaders must examine their own lives and their hearts, learn to let go of their hurts and live a life of integrity so that they can find peace in their hearts.
To help us purify ourselves, the Lord sent us His messenger in the person of John the Baptist, the New Elijah. This is what the prophet said, “The Lord God says this: Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me.” Indeed, John the Baptist was the new Elijah who was to prepare the way for the Lord, the Messiah to come. He was the one who was to bring about the conversion of hearts through the repentance of sins. “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.” He was the one to prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord.
For this reason, the gospel narrates the triple joy of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Firstly, the humiliation and shame of Elizabeth, who was barren, was removed. St Luke wrote, “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.” The birth of John the Baptist was a great joy to Elizabeth herself.
But it was not just the birth of a baby, it was the birth of a baby boy. In those days, when a baby was about to be born, friends, relatives and musicians would gather outside the house, ready to celebrate the coming of a new baby. When it was a boy, the musicians would play and everyone would rejoice. If it was a girl, then sadly and silently, the musicians would depart! So the birth of John the Baptist would have brought great joy to the parents and the relatives.
But most importantly, this was no ordinary boy. He had been called to be a prophet. The future of this boy was anticipated by signs. It is significant that with the birth of John the Baptist, the tongue of Zechariah was released. He could speak and hear again after being silent from the day the angel announced this great gift given to them because he did not believe. This is very symbolic of the Israelites who did not believe in the word of the prophets who called them to repentance from their sins. As a consequence, the Lord stopped sending any more prophets after Malachi. For 400 years, there was silence until the coming of John the Baptist, the beginning of the New Testament. With the birth of John the Baptist, the New Testament begins, because prophecy had returned once again.
He came as a forerunner for the Messiah. As the psalmist says, he will teach us the path of the Lord. “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. 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.” He has been called to holiness himself as he was circumcised on the 8th day so that he became a member of the chosen people of God.
Indeed, John the Baptist, as he was named, truly is a gift of God. For this reason, he was not given a name that was related to one of the family’s name, as was the custom. Instead, his name expresses the goodness and kindness of God. Since he was given as a gift, then he was rightly named by the Angel, who instructed Elizabeth and Zechariah to give him the name “John.” What does it mean for us as we prepare for the feast of Christmas because Christ is the greatest of all gifts, far greater than John? God is not contented with giving us anything less than the gift of Himself. We too must become gifts of God to each other.
Firstly, that every child is a gift of God should make us treasure everyone, young and old, as children of God. We are called to look at each other as the gift of God to us. We are called to treasure each other and appreciate the goodness in each other. Every child has great potentials in her or him. It is said that we are like a gift with many wrappers. Indeed, as the people remarked about John the Baptist, “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.”
Secondly, how this gift will unwrap itself depends on how we unwrap it. If we do it gently, with love and care, the gift will remain intact and will be precious. If everyone is a gift from God, then we must guard him or her. Leaders, parents, teachers, guardians, and religious leaders have a grave responsibility in the way they treat their children, subordinates and members. They can bring out the best in them, or the worst. So it is important that we be good mentors and leaders. We need to walk the talk and show the way. As leaders, like John the Baptist, we are called bring the light of Christ to prepare people to receive Him into their hearts.
For this to happen, let us, above all, not just give gifts, important as they are, but to give ourselves to each other in love and humble service. There is nothing greater than to give ourselves to others by our lives, our examples and kindness. So we need to purify our hearts to receive the Lord. We need to remove the hardness of our hearts, the sins from our hearts, especially that of anger, resentment, hatred, unforgiveness and, most of all, the lack of integrity in our lives. People who continue to live in their sins need to purify themselves if they are to receive the Lord. In this way, we too become the gift of God in person.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment