Tuesday, December 23^rd

Gospel Reading Luke 1:57-66

⁵⁷Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. ⁶⁰But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” ⁶¹They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” ⁶²Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. ⁶³He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. ⁶⁴Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

Reflection:

Richard Rohr writes, “God’s mercy is greater than we could ever imagine. The incarnation is something we still have not fully wrapped our minds around and it has been 2,000 years since God first took on flesh. God is serious about redemption. Since Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden of Eden, no one had ever imagined that God would leave heaven and enter into this world as an infant. The glory of God is not just about how God is different from us. The glory of God can clearly be seen in this radical act of God becoming human. The story of redemption is not about what humans must do to be saved, it is about the amazing things God has done to save humanity.”

Question for Reflection:

God is the One who comes among us to challenge, comfort, redeem, change and save us. As Christians, part of our preparing for Christmas must include preparing for all these engagements on God’s behalf. What things do we need to set aside, today, to prepare for the ways God will come among us?