There was a time when I thought that if I sow good, I will reap good. But alas, the world revealed itself and it’s not as fair as I thought it was. It turns out that life is not a linear journey but a curvy one.

Once, I was pouring out my frustrations to a friend. I was lamenting that at my age, I could have been in a better place if I only did this and that in the past. But when she learned that I am actively serving and professionally working in a religious organization, she told me, “Your life has not been a waste. Working for the Lord has never been in vain.”

At that moment, I knew it was God’s response to me. My life isn’t as bad as I thought it was.

I don’t have everything, but I have everything that I need now. I cannot bring back the past, but I have the present to paint my future. I am not a child anymore, but I am still my Father’s child. I am in good hands because I am in God’s hands. 

Laarni Uy (laarni.u@svrtv.com)

reflect

God is already holding you. Your only job is to not let go. 

Dearest Lord, help me not to cling on to anything tighter than how I cling to You. Amen.

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

The coming of the Messiah will challenge the status quo and bring about dramatic changes. He will be like a refiner who purifies precious metals. We see this in Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple, when He drove out all the money changers and the animals to make it a place of quietness and prayer again. We see the fierceness of Christ as He challenged the scribes and the Pharisees about their pretenses and hypocrisy. Yes, Jesus’ coming will be life-changing if we allow it to be.

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.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14

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)

Gospel | Luke 1:57-66

From the time he saw the vision of an angel in the Temple to the time of his Son’s birth, Zechariah had been unable to speak because he did not believe the angel’s message. All of a sudden, his lips were opened and he could speak. One can imagine the impact that this would have had on the local people. This was a sign from God that this child had a special mission. Unbelief also makes us unable to speak and proclaim the Good News. Let us be men and women of faith who boldly proclaim the message of God’s mercy and love.

Gospel Acclamation

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.

Reflect:

“At my birth, I took away my mother’s barrenness . . . and healed my father's dumbness, for you gave me . . . the gift of working miracles.” (St. Gregory the Illuminator)

Read the Bible in one year! Read SIRACH 6 - 10 today.

Today, we read about the circumcision and naming of the child of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Everybody expected the child to be called “Zechariah” after his father. Elizabeth countered that the child was going to be called “John.” Zechariah, who was then still mute, wrote on a tablet and affirmed that the child was going to be called John.

Naming the child after the father is a tradition that signals the intimacy between the father and the son, and the continuation of the family profession or mission. Care must be taken, though, to distinguish between intimacy and attachment.

I have spent almost seventeen years now in the seminary, teaching and forming young men for the priesthood. I have met countless young men who were in the seminary not because they wanted to, but because their fathers wanted them to. It was either the father was a frustrated seminarian who wanted his son to take his place, or a father who simply wanted a son-priest. In both cases, the son is denied the chance to become the person he wanted to be.

In a relationship of attachment, people feel strangled and suffocated. Instead of being empowered, they are overpowered. They manipulate one another out of insecurity and mutual dependency.

In a relationship of intimacy, the lover remains in the beloved, and vice versa. But the lovers know when to let go. Their intimacy empowers one another to be their own person. Zechariah loved his son, that’s why he affirmed, he would be called John (which means “God is gracious”), so that he would grow and fulfill his own mission of proclaiming the graciousness of God.

This way of intimacy is also the way of God with all of us, His children. Yes, Jesus wants us to follow His footsteps, but He also wants us to make our own footprints.

Fr. Joel Jason

reflection question

What characterizes your relationships—intimacy or attachment?

Thank You, Lord, for Your love that liberates and empowers us. Amen.

Today, I pray for: __________________________________________