Consecrated to the Lord from Baptism

Both readings of today's liturgy, Judges 13: 2-7, 24-25a and Luke 1: 5-25, tell the story of two women who were barren and were about to become fertile.  The stories also reveal that both Samson and John the Baptist will be consecrated in the womb and chosen as key persons in salvation history. Concerning Samson, the messenger of God said that he is the one "who will begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines." John the Baptist, Zachariah, his father, is told "will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God."

Every child that God brings into the world,  including you and me, though not consecrated in the womb but first at our baptisms, has a key role in the salvation of the world.  We, too, are called to turn to the Lord ourselves and thereby turn other people to the Lord.  We are also to cooperate with God in our deliverance from that which overpowers and distracts us from the one thing necessary: the Lord our God and His Spirit at work in our lives!

As we pray in today's responsorial psalm, Ps. 71,  God is our refuge, "a stronghold," the One who "rescues [us] from the hand of the wicked".  On God we depended "from birth; from [our] mother's womb [God had been our] strength."  It is God who makes it possible for us to carry out the purpose for which He created us. It is God who consecrates us to be a significant person in the salvation of the world in which we live! It is God who transforms our barrenness into fertility for the good all!

God's Design and God's Purpose

Today we celebrate the feast of  Our Lady of Guadalupe--Mary's appearance to Juan Diego, a Native American belonging to the Aztec tribe!   As with Jesus, Mary's love for the poor and oppressed are revealed in this visit to Juan Diego.  Because the bishop did not at first believe Juan Diego that Mary wanted a cathedral built on the spot where she appeared to him, he asked Mary to choose someone else. And Mary said "No, I have chosen you."  The Bishop wanted proof, so Juan Diego asked for such and was told that there would be roses on a snowy hill nearby. He found the roses and wrapped them in his cloak and took them to the bishop. When Juan Diego opened his cloak and gave the Bishop the roses, there on his cloak was an imprint of our Blessed Mother clothed as an Aztec woman. Many miracles have occurred  for the Mexican people through the intercession of Mary in the cathedral built at her request.

Like Juan Diego and like Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe,  and like so many others who have gone before us, each one of us has been called to fulfill God's design and purpose that only we, with God's help, are able to do.  If we refuse, that particular purpose is not accomplished. God designed it so! We might, as was the case with  Juan Diego, want God to choose someone else whom we believe is better equipped to carry out what God is asking of us; however, God choose you and me for a specific purpose and equips us to carry out His design no less than He equipped Juan Diego and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to do what was theirs to do.  When what is being asked of us seems too difficult, and we encounter our weaknesses, that is when God intervenes for us. At times like those, we also know much we depend upon God to empower us to do the good that is ours to do. May you and I humbly step up to the plate and embrace God's will for us as Mary and Juan Diego did!

Fulfilling God's Purpose, God's Intention, God's Idea

In today’s first reading, 2 Tim1: 1-3, 6-12, we are challenged to “fan into a flame the gift of God that…[we] possess through the laying on of…[the bishop’s] hands” when we were confirmed.  God, St. Timothy tells us, “did not give us a spirit of timidity but the Spirit of power and love and self-control.” Over and above these gifts, God has saved us and called us to be holy—not because of anything we ourselves had done but for his own purpose and by his own grace.”

Each one of us possesses “the gift of God.” We possess it, that is, it is ours. But it is not ours for our own sake. It is “for God’s own purpose and by his own grace.”  The “gift of God” that has been given us is “the Spirit of power and love and self-control,” which, by the grace of God, we are empowered to fulfill the purpose for which God put us here on earth, placed us in the family that is ours and in that part of the world where a purpose of God is not yet achieved and will not be achieved unless you and I carry it out according to God’s plan and “by the grace” of God because it has been given to us to accomplish!

That is mind-bottling!  I am not here for myself. Never was! And the purpose for which I am here is God’s purpose.   I am God’s idea, so to speak. I am who I am, I am where I am, for God’s reason, God’s intention. God has a g in mind  to achieve and that goal will only be achieved if I co-operate with Go in accomplishing it.   That is true of every day of my life: one day at a time.  May I, through the grace of God, fulfill the purpose for which God has given me this day.  May I accomplish the objective that God needs fulfilled today through me.  If  I do not achieve the objective that is God’s for me today, it will remain unfulfilled. He has given that objective of His to no one else but me.

Fulfilling God's Purpose

Today’s  first reading, Isaiah 55:10-11, speaks about God’s word going forth from God’s mouth never returning  to Him void, but always doing the will for which the word was sent.  You and I are small words—Jesus is The Word of God--sent forth by the mouth of God to accomplish the purpose for which God put us here on earth.  We will not return to the Lord until we have accomplished that purpose. How  mind-boggling  to realize that God  not only sent us here to accomplish His purpose but also did so in a way that  we possess all of the “tools” needed to accomplish God’s will. Furthermore, God did not send us alone; He has sent His Spirit to direct us, strengthen us, and enlighten us along the way. He also sent His Son to destroy Satan’s power over us.    And, as noted in the liturgy’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 34, as we go through life striving to accomplish God’s will by doing the good we were sent to do, the Lord rescues us from all of our distress, that is, from that which would hamper us from doing the good we are challenged to bring about in God’s name and overcoming the evil that we encounter. Furthermore, the Lord stays close to us when our hearts are broken (Psalm 34) and saves us when we “are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34).  

Be Not Afraid of What I Am Asking of You

“’Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary  your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his house” (Mt 1: 16, 18-21, 24a).

Imagine the agony of Joseph in discovering that Mary, to whom he is engaged,  is pregnant.  He trusted her. He loves her dearly and felt privileged that she is to be his wife. He then finds out that she is carrying a child that is not his own.  Distraught, he plans to divorce her quietly so as not to shame her.  He also is terrified that she could be stoned to death, the consequences, in  that culture, if found to have conceived a child out of wedlock.  Struggling with the situation, a messenger from God appears to him in a dream one night and reveals to him the circumstances of Mary’s pregnancy and that the son she is carrying is the Messiah, the one who “will save his people from their sins.”  “Do not be afraid, Joseph, to accept Mary as your wife; take her into your home.” And Joseph obeys the messenger of God.

Joseph suddenly realizes, in a profound way, the purpose for which God created him: to protect, cherish and love Mary and to be the foster father of Jesus, the Son of God made man.  He is to provide for both of them, being compassionate as His heavenly Father is compassionate, being understanding, and caring.  He is no longer identified with his job, that of a carpenter. His calling is much more profound than that. His career is not his calling. It is not the reason God brought him into existence.

For what purpose did God bring you into the world? What is your calling?  What gives substance and meaning to your existence? What transcends  job/career for you and transforms you into the best version of yourself as a human being?