Today’s Gospel Text: Now
the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. 58 And her neighbors and
kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced
with her. 59 And on the eighth day they
came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechari'ah after
his father, 60 but his mother said,
"Not so; he shall be called John." 61 And
they said to her, "None of your kindred is called by this name." 62 And they made signs to his
father, inquiring what he would have him called. 63 And
he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." And
they all marveled. 64 And immediately his mouth
was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their
neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country
of Judea; 66 and all who heard them
laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?"
For the hand of the Lord was with him. 80 And the child grew and
became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his
manifestation to Israel. Luke
1:57-66, 80
Reflection: In
life there is always the subjective situation of a particular situation or circumstance and
the more objective in which God is at work and we are rarely able to see this working of God.
If
we are not attuned to God then we could be carried away by the subjective
situation and so immerse ourselves in it that we may forget the work which God
is doing in our lives.
Each
understanding has its own truth and merits and scripture has an abundance of
examples of such situations. It can sometimes lead astray the ones who are
not familiar with the objective working of God and his subjective work.
In
the gospel of today we see similar situation in which the neighbors and
kinsfolk of Zechariah and Elizabeth are described:
“And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had
shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.” (vs. 58)
Subjectively or speaking as humans; the Lord did have mercy on her and it was right for them to rejoice
over her and about the situation.
Objectively,
the Lord was working out his great plan in and through the family of John the Baptist.
Similarly
in life we may be faced with situations of persecutions and trials, which
subjectively speaking, allowed by the Lord in the lives of the beloved.
But
objectively, the Lord keeps doing his work of sanctification.
Subjectively and in
the light of this we could be looking at the immediate situation and be lost in
the maze of hurts and pain.
Objectively, we could be looking at the work, the good, almighty
and powerful God could be doing in our lives and rejoice at his working and the things that he is accomplishing either in us or in and through us as his
instruments and thus be blessed.
Prayer: Lord, as I offer myself to you to be your
instrument let me never lose track of the work that you are doing in and through
me.
DD = Dedicated
Discipleship: Come grow
in the Lord with us
