By Fr Antony Christy, SDB.
THE WORD IN ADVENT – Third week Friday
December 22, 2023 – 1 Samuel 1:24-28; Luke 1: 46-56
Joy comes from what we have experienced from the hands of the Lord. Isn’t that the Reign of God – the might of God, the power and the magnificence of God, the omnipotence that is revealed in ordinary things of life? Those who are attentive to the Reign, are capable of identifying the hand of God in their daily life. In corrolary, only those who develop the capacity to see the hand of God in their daily experiences, are forming themselves to be Reign-persons.
We have in the Word today, two Reign-persons – Hannah and Mary, who identified the hand of God in their life. They found a great presence of the strength of God in their lives and they proclaimed it aloud. We see Hannah in the Temple praying and she sings out that hymn of praise which we prayed as the Responsorial psalm. Luke decides to put those very words in the lips of Mary – because she found herself too amidst the magnificence of God and was a persons highly aware of it – we read that part in the Gospel today.
The joy of the Reign is the joy in the strength of the Lord which is constantly made manifest in our lives. It requires that first of all, we are recognizant of this strength of the Lord at work in our lives; secondly, that we are ready to recognise the difference it makes; and thirdly, that we grow ever more prepared to surrender to that Strength, instead of relyind solely on our own personal strength or the strength of those who are around.
The antiphon for the day presents to us the Lord as the King of the Nations, the king of the people who is the cornerstone of the community of faith, the children of God, the Reign-community. King, because the Lord rules and governs, and is the author of all, who made us from the dust. In front of the Lord, we need to humbly submit and joyfully proclaim every sign of God’s powerful presence – that is the lesson we have from the two great women we meet today, as from many others in the Biblical history.
God’s strength surrounds us, all that we need to do is believe in it, submit to it and and rejoice in it, that we experience that strength and trasmit the same to others, empowering all around us, thus becoming usherers of the Reign.
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He has completed his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.