Gospel: Luke 1:5-25
In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there
was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was
from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in
the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord
blamelessly. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were
advanced in years.
Once when he was serving as priest in his
division’s turn before God, according to the practice of the priestly service, he
was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then,
when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the
incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right
of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came
upon him.
But the angel said to him, “Do not be
afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will
bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And 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 will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled
with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the
children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit
and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the
disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for
the Lord.”
Then Zechariah said to the angel, “How
shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the
angel said to him in reply, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to
speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be
speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because
you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time. Meanwhile
the people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed that he stayed so long in
the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they
realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was gesturing to them
but remained mute.
Then, when his days of ministry were
completed, he went home. After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she
went into seclusion for five months, saying, “So has the Lord done for me at a
time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.”
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Reflection:
Do you
have a prayer request before God? Do you believe that your prayer request will
be granted by God? You must always believe that God will grant your prayer
request. Because when you believe that you will have what you want from God
what you want from Him is already within your reach.
In our
gospel the couple Zechariah and Elizabeth was praying to God for the gift of a
child. Yet when the angel of God appeared to Zechariah in the sanctuary and
told him that his wife would be pregnant. Zechariah suddenly had doubts and the
reason for his doubt was credible for the reason that both of them were already
old.
It was so
uncharacteristic for Zechariah to doubt considering that he is a priest serving
God. Zechariah forgot that nothing is impossible for God, did he forget or he
simply had weak and feeble faith? Perhaps Zechariah had weak faith during that
moment when the angel appeared to him.
Perhaps
Zechariah was overwhelmed by their personal circumstances (Old age and the
like). Let us not doubt when we have prayer/s for God. Let us firmly believe
and have faith that God will grant us what we want from Him.
Do you
have a prayer request for God? Believe and have faith that He will grant it to you
for He will surely give it to you if you would only believe and have faith.
Amen. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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