May the Lord bless you with peace, grace, and health in the Holy Spirit. It is 16th December 2021. We reflect on Isaiah 54:1-10 and Luke 7:24-30.
We begin the nine days of the novena to the Christmas season today. The Church prepares us by presenting a person for nine days in a row starting from today with John the Baptist. Our expressions emerge from the deep impression of someone. “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; do not be discouraged, for you will not suffer disgrace; for you will forget the shame of your youth and the disgrace of your widowhood.” The shame of the youth is the experience of exile, and widowhood is the absence of God in one’s life. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion, I will take you back.” God wants to embrace us back how dirty and sinful we feel. “For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then, my faithful love for you will remain.” God renews the covenantal and unbreakable marriage bond with the people of Israel and us. We have the merciful Father to lean on. God renews God’s love for us repeatedly. Yes, the Lord punished Israel to show God’s unwavering faithfulness to Israel. The blanket of God’s mercy covers everything in our life. God is impressed with our life and so we need to express our goodness by recognizing the best in others.
Recognizing goodness and nobility in others even if they are our competitors brings the best in ourselves. Jesus never reduced Himself by praising John the Baptist. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find Jesus registers so vocally applauding someone except St. John the Baptist. He is greater than the prophet because he not only looked forward to a redeemer but the Messiah; he is the Messenger of the Lord though less prominent but necessary for the work of salvation; Greater among the people because of his humility to pointing out the Messiah and wished Him to increase and self to decrease. Many of us love to adorn the first and the best place. But to be in the second place like John the Baptist is necessary for recognizing the plan of God in our life.
However least we can be in our lives and in the church, yet we too are valued and appreciated by the Lord. “Yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” May God bless you.