Sunday Gospel: Luke 1:39-44
TODAY we hear about the story of the Visitation of Mary to her older cousin Elizabeth. Who is Elizabeth? Let us learn about the story behind Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah.
Zechariah a priest in the Levite tradition and Elizabeth his wife has been barren for a long time and both of them are in their advanced age.
Imagine. In the Old Testament time, not everyone can offer the incense at the temple – many had to wait and wait for a long time to get their chance. The elderly Zechariah has probably waited all his life for this day, when he was chosen to offer the incense. And now, as he’s doing so, the angel of the Lord shows up next to the altar where he is standing.
Not only that, but the angel announces that the prayer Zechariah had just offered has been heard and will be answered, and will be answered in part through he and his barren wife, Elizabeth. Impossible things happen to people who wait.
What can we learn from Zechariah and Elizabeth?
Learning to wait patiently. Elizabeth and Zechariah are my heroes when it comes to waiting. In our pragmatic culture, the tendency is to figure things out and take control. If we experience a setback or problem, we seek a quick resolution so that we can get away from suffering. We are fixated with the quick and easy and become impatient with any kind of waiting.
Perhaps at some point in our lives, through the experience of a crisis brought about by a death of a loved one, loss of a job or business, sickness... we are also invited to wait, to step aside and trust in the waiting itself would bear fruit. This will be a difficult decision for many but we should learn to accept that it is no longer primarily about our activity but about God’s activity. Trust that the Spirit is at work in our lives, creating space, healing inner wounds and bringing as to wholeness even if we do not know how the Spirit works. Be ready to accept that uncovering new life meant not restless searching but remaining still. God affirms us to be still and know that He is God.
Waiting is difficult because you aren’t really doing anything. The good or bad thing is still off in the distance, so what are we supposed to do in the meantime? Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are people of hope. Hope is a theological virtue, which is a fancy way of saying that hope is given to us by God and points us straight back to God. Hope means that we can trust in God’s promises not because we are confident in ourselves, but rather, we are confident that God is trustworthy and can make it happen.
#GiveGodAChance A child once asked, “What does God do all day?” If the answer to that question depended on how much we allow God to do in our individual lives, some of us would have to reply, “Not much!” In difficult situations, it’s easy to say we trust God and yet try to handle things ourselves without turning to Him and His Word. This is masked unbelief. Although God is constantly working, He allows us to set a limit on the degree of work He does on our behalf. Today, stop and wait on the Lord. Give God a chance to move in a wonderful way.
We hate to wait because we believe we are the most important person and we deserve to be treated appropriately. But God is the most important being in the entire universe. He's at the top. So it stands to reason that all of us have to wait for him. But that's not how we like it, so we get all worked up and try to hurry him along. When you don't give God a chance to work out a solution and insist on an immediate answer, you're telling him to obey you, to hurry up because your way is best.
At a faith sharing with some youth, we were sharing about God listening to our prayers. He said, “Hindi parati binibigay ng Diyos ang lahat ng gusto at hinihingi ko pero madalas binibigay ng Diyos ang kailangan ko.”
Waiting in gratefulness. Let us recall how amazingly faithful God is. This isn’t some reward for our goodness or something we deserve. Thank God. Despite the fact we mess up, despite the fact that we are unfaithful to following the Jesus sometimes, he is always faithful. God never fails.
The Angel Gabriel was sent by God to bring His message and answer to their prayers. This Christmas instead of just waiting for answers to our prayers let us be the answers to the waiting of others. Do something amazing for someone this Christmas? Be an angel. The answer to their waiting. Surprise someone this Christmas.
In the movie “A Second Chance” one of the characters said that “It is brave to ask what if, but it is braver to embrace “what is.” It this time of waiting, many of us ask, “What if I have more money to buy gifts for my children? What if I still have my job? What if me and my partner were still together? What if I finished school? What if I remained faithful?” Instead of asking those questions. Embrace “what is” embrace this moment and be grateful.
Give God a chance this Christmas embrace the present moment not the presents you want to receive. Don’t give up. Give God time. Give God a chance.