Thursday of the Third Week of Advent
Sometimes families send birth announcements upon the arrival of a new addition. Our Liturgy of the Word today features two such birth announcements, the first being the birth of the judge Sampson. The second announces the nativity of John the Baptist over a thousand years later. Both accounts show the Almighty acting in surprising and dramatic ways for our salvation. Great things happen when we trust God’s mighty power to save!
During these seven days before Christmas, we pray/sing the beautiful 9th century O Antiphons. These antiphons for centuries have sandwiched the singing of Mary’s magnificat at evensong or evening prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. The O Antiphon for today is “O come, O rod of Jesse's stem, from every foe deliver them that trust your mighty power to save, and give them victory o’er the grave.” Luke features the birth announcements of two of Jesse’s descendants, John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. John’s is featured today, appropriate for this last full week of Advent.
How do we react when we hear good news, such as birth announcements, job advancements, good grades, or just plain events in our lives that indicate that life is going well? Do we readily accept and live with trust or are we cautious, thinking something is too good to be true or “waiting for the other shoe to drop?” How can we be like the trusting mother of Sampson and less like doubting Zechariah for whom the “news” is just too “good” to believe? If we are honest with ourselves then we admit that, like Zechariah, we sometimes simply cannot move to that place of trust.
In truth we have all heard celebratory news that fell through or simply didn’t work out. It is natural for those who have been jilted by life one too many times to move with extreme caution to avoid further hurt and disappointment. And that must be recognized and respected.
Eventually Zechariah not only learns that the Holy One of Israel keeps promises, but that the promise fulfilled is often far greater than we could have ever hoped, all in God’s time, a Deity who likes to work “outside the lines.” Ours is an unconventional God! Let us pray for the grace to recognize the nativity of our Lord for what it is: God’s most dramatic and surprising act of all.
Great things happen when we have confidence in God’s mighty power to save!
—Timothy J. Cronin