PRAYER: “ALMIGHTY EVER-LIVING GOD, AS WE SEE HOW THE NATIVITY OF YOUR SON ACCORDING TO THE FLESH DRAWS NEAR, WE PRAY THAT TO US, YOUR UNWORTHY SERVANTS, MERCY MAY FLOW FROM YOUR WORD, WHO CHOSE TO BECOME FLESH OF THE VIRGIN MARY AND ESTABLISHED AMONG US HIS DWELLING, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN”.
Mal 3:1-4,23-24; Ps 24:4-5,8-10 and Lk 1:57-66.
The scripture passage we reflect on today talks about the “Coming Day of Judgment, the Day of the Lord. This day will be preceded by a messenger who will come to prepare the way and the people for the Lord. The preparation might not be so smooth and easy. Terms and expressions such as ‘refiner’s fire’, ‘fuller’s lye’, ‘He will sit refining and purifying silver’ or ‘gold’, and ‘before the day of the LORD comes, the great terrible day’ etc., all suggest that the preparation for the coming day of judgment will be rough and may be, harsh.
We immediately call to mind the days of the Prophet Elijah. In his attempt to prepare the sinful people of Israel, trying to convert them to meet the day of the Lord, he had to go the rough and harsh way sometimes. We remember the contest at Mount Carmel (1Kg 18:20-46) which ended with the murder of the false prophets of Baal, as well as the pronouncement of the three-and-half year drought (1Kg 17:1ff). Even upon witnessing such drastic and rough activities as a way of preparing the people, most of them, including their leaders were still adamant.
Sin and wrongdoings have, so to speak, created thick and hard layers of dirt in our lives. Just as a very rough sponge, sometimes together with sand or stones and ashes is needed to scrub off heavy soot on cooking utensils (now modern women use vim and other things), so are rough and harsh ways needed sometimes to clean off the heavy dirt created by our sinful deeds and wrongdoings in our lives.
For all these four weeks of preparation and waiting for the Lord, the word of God has been suggesting ways for us to prepare and celebrate the Nativity. Our carnal desires always lead us to do wrong and sinful things.
We need a lot of discipline and sacrifice to overcome these carnal desires that sometimes control us, mislead us and eventually land us in sin and wrongdoing. The prophet Isaiah talks about rough highways, crooked ways, valleys and holes, hills, mountains and cliffs, etc., that should be worked on. This cannot be overcome overnight. Discipline and sacrifice are needed.
One other area that sometimes controls us and eventually leads us to do things against the will of God is culture. Culture is good, but sometimes there are some cultural practices that are no longer useful; they are obsolete and therefore should be discarded, otherwise, they may prevent us from obeying the will of God.
The passage from Luke 1:57-66 is about the birth, naming and circumcision of John the Baptist. Before his birth, the name was revealed to Zechariah, John’s father. This was the name the mother gave to the relatives because Zechariah could not speak at this moment. The relatives resisted since none of John’s relatives was ever called by that name. According to them, it was culturally wrong to name the baby John. Thank God, Zechariah was given a piece of paper to write the name, and he wrote that the child should be called John.
There are a lot of cultural practices that need purification or that need to be refined, especially those that are inhuman as well as those that do not promote human dignity and life. Practices such as widowhood rites, rites for orphans, certain rites of passage like female genital mutilation, slavery in whatever form, certain crude cultural practices like crude ways of giving tribal marks could be refined or purified, if not abolished.
Also, in cultures where some men think that the woman is a ‘child’, her place is in the kitchen and she does not belong to the marital family, and therefore she cannot take part in decision making, this concept should be refined, if not abolished completely. Some Christians think that Christianity and other traditional or cultural practices must go together and therefore they think that they must be Christians and still go the traditional way. I could go on and on, but suffice it.
As we still have one day to go with our preparations, let us ask the Lord to refine and purify our hearts and motives, and make them worthy enough for our Saviour to enter in and give us his blessings. May Saint John of Kanty intercede for us. Stay blessed. Be assured of my constant prayers and blessings.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, TUESDAY, ON THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES: ‘THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN, THE SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR, THE CROWNING WITH THORNS, THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIXION’ (WE PRAY FOR SORROW FOR SIN, PURITY, COURAGE, PATIENCE, AND PERSEVERANCE) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “GRANT YOUR PEACE, O LORD, TO THOSE YOU HAVE NOURISHED WITH THESE HEAVENLY GIFTS, THAT WE MAY BE READY, WITH LIGHTED LAMPS, TO MEET YOUR DEARLY BELOVED SON AT HIS COMING. WHO LIVES AND REIGNS FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”.
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com.
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