4th TUESDAY OF ADVENT - Gospel(Luke 1:57-66) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

“No. He will be called John.” (Lk 1:60)

FIRST READING - Mal 3:1-4, 23-24

"Now I am sending to you Elijah the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes."

A reading from the Book of Malachi

¹ Now I am sending my messenger—

    he will prepare the way before me;^[a]

And the lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple;

The messenger of the covenant whom you desire—

    see, he is coming! says the Lord of hosts.

² But who can endure the day of his coming?

    Who can stand firm when he appears?

For he will be like a refiner’s fire,

    like fullers’ lye.

³ He will sit refining and purifying silver,

    and he will purify the Levites,

Refining them like gold or silver,

    that they may bring offerings to the Lord in righteousness.

⁴ Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem

    will please the Lord,

    as in ancient days, as in years gone by.

²³ Now I am sending to you    

Elijah^[a] the prophet,

Before the day of the Lord comes,    

the great and terrible day;

²⁴ He will turn the heart of fathers to their sons,    

and the heart of sons to their fathers,

Lest I come and strike    

the land with utter destruction.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 1:57-66

"No. He will be called John"

✠From the Gospel according to Luke

⁵⁷ When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. ^59 [a]When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, ⁶⁰ but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” ⁶¹ But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” ⁶² So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. ⁶³ He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. ⁶⁵ Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶ All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.

4th TUESDAY OF ADVENT - Gospel(Luke 1:57-66)

THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

Dear People of God,

In today's Word of God, God wishes to speak and show all humanity the strength and power of God as manifested in Saint John the Baptist, in Zechariah and Elizabeth.

God lets humanity know that nothing is impossible for Him; just as the birth of Saint John the Baptist occurred through the intervention of God the Father; thus, the angel's promise when announcing the news to Zechariah was fulfilled.

When the child was named John, no one knew beforehand what his name would be; even Elizabeth herself did not know, until the people asked what the child's name was.

At that moment, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and named her son John.

And God's power continued to manifest in Zechariah: he was mute because he doubted and did not believe this event would happen; until the day the child was born, he fulfilled exactly what the angel had told him, naming the child John, which coincided with the name Elizabeth wanted to give, and then he could speak; thus, the angel's message to him was true because it had been fulfilled.

This is a very powerful intervention of God manifested in his family and in Saint John the Baptist, whom God sent down to prepare the way for the Savior to come into the world.

God reveals that Saint John is a man of God, and therefore John will always be guarded and protected by God the Father.

And with the mission of being a prophet for the Son of God who came down to become man, John was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, and he went forth to carry out the duty entrusted by God the Father.

God the Father was always with Saint John the Baptist on the path of proclaiming the word of God to humanity, calling people to repent, abandon the path of sin, and open their hearts to receive the Son of God who came down to earth to become man.

The word preached by Saint John continues even to this day, showing the intervention of the Most High as manifested in Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Saint John the Baptist; this is strength and power that come from God; without the strength and power granted by God, human beings cannot accomplish such things.

God calls upon people in the world today to run to God, to place their absolute trust in Him, and to ask Him to intervene in their own lives, to guide them and to show them the way so that they may do all the things that God desires of them.

Only then can one be pleasing to God, and God will save that person's soul from the captivity of Satan.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

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