All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. – Psalm 25:10

       After almost three to four hours of travel, I approached the venue, Our Lady of Ransom Parish in Tarlac City. I felt all the more uneasy and nervous. Who wouldn’t be when I would be standing before 500 attendees from different prayer groups and places, with the Infant Jesus Catholic Community heading the event?

        Head Servant Bro. Nath Gomez invited me to give my life testimony after he had read my Didache reflections.

       At the venue, seeing the huge crowd gave me goose-bumps and made my stomach flutter. It was no joke to stand before them and share about my 23 years of incarceration at the Correctional Institution for Women.

       “There’s nothing like being separated from your loved ones — more so from your children, whom you can’t even touch or embrace when they are sick,” I shared as tears flowed down my cheeks. In the audience, many mothers were crying with me, too.

       I sometimes wonder why I’m often invited to share my testimony when there are others who are more deserving. But who am I to question His will? Yes, Lord, send me where You want me to go to do what You want me to do. Beth A. Corral (bethcorral_0330@yahoo.com)

Reflection: Never question the Lord’s calling or choice. Who would have thought He’d choose a poor, young girl to be the mother of the Messiah?

Use my life, Lord, to bless many others.

St. John of Kanty, priest, pray for us.

To welcome the Messiah into our lives, we have to be purified. This is what Malachi is telling us in the First Reading today. Are you ready to welcome the Messiah into your heart, mind and soul? Have you been purified enough through repentance and conversion to receive the Lord into your life? This is a useful starting point for personal reflection during this season of the Church.

1 Thus says the Lord God: Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. 3 He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord. 4 Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in days of old, as in years gone by. 23 Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day, 24 to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with doom.

R: Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.

4 Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths, 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior. (R) 8 Good and upright is the Lord; thus he shows sinners the way. 9 He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way. (R) 10 All the paths of the Lord are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees. 14 The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him, and his covenant, for their instruction. (R)

The unusual name that Zechariah gives his son is a sign that there is something out of the ordinary happening here. Everyone expected a different name, but God had told Zechariah otherwise and he was not going to question God a second time. Once was enough for him. Hopefully once is enough for us as well. When we sin and discover the awful effects that our sins have caused, let us be so repulsed that we avoid that sin in the future.

O King of all nations and keystone of the Church: come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!

57 When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” 61 But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” 62 So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. 63 He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. 65 Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.

think:  Are you ready to welcome the Messiah into your heart, mind and soul?

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Nahum 1-3

BEHOLD THE MYSTERY!

         A friend once invited me to pass by her house to bless her newly renovated Lourdes grotto. I told her I would pass by after dinner. So I arrived in her house, looking and feeling so casual in my polo and slacks, sandals, with my stole and holy water in hand, only to find out that it was a big affair. There was catering, a number of arranged tables, and the guests were in semi-formal evening wear. Needless to say, I was so embarrassed I literally felt naked before all of them. I gave a very moving one-hour homily on Our Lady of Lourdes that night to make up for being underdressed.

         Today we read the story of the birth of John the Baptist. Everyone present knew the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the birth of the Baptist: Zechariah was already too old; Elizabeth was not only old as well, but was barren at that. Everyone felt something special was happening. Luke narrates that “fear descended on all the neighborhood… they treasured the events in their hearts… they wondered what would become of the child.” They felt underdressed before the mystery unfolding before their very eyes.

         The late bishop Fulton Sheen once said that the water at Cana turned to wine because the water blushed (turned red) when it saw the face of Jesus. Blushing in awe and worship is the only appropriate stance before the mystery of God.

         Why don’t we blush anymore today? How come we attend Mass like we’re going to the gym? How come we take communion like we’re receiving a wafer? How come we approach Christmas as simply a holiday?

         We have become so cavalier before God and His mysteries. It’s not like God needs our attention. He does not need our attention to massage His Divine ego. We need it. When we take seriously our encounter before God, it is us who benefit from it. The next time you go to Mass or to the adoration chapel, be conscious of Who it is you are facing. You will surely blush in awe. Then you won’t need any artificial blush-on. Fr. Joel Jason

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Do you prepare for Christmas as an encounter with God? Do you consider it important to take pains in readying yourself?

Lord Jesus, never let me take You for granted. Ingrain in my consciousness a deep awareness of Your real presence in the Eucharist and in my prayers. Not for Your sake, but for mine.