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.”
+ + + + +
+ +
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 is 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 has a basis for the reason that both of them are already
old.
However, it
is 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 of God 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 before God? Believe, have faith and you shall have it. –
Marino J. Dasmarinas
No comments:
Post a Comment