DECEMBER 23 - Gospel (Lk 1:57-66) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

“What, then, will this child be?” (Lk 1:66)

FIRST READING - Mal 3:1-4, 23-24

A reading from the Book of Malachi

Thus says the Lord GOD:

Lo, I am sending my messenger

to prepare the way before me;

And suddenly there will come to the temple

the LORD whom you seek,

And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.

Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.

But who will endure the day of his coming?

And who can stand when he appears?

For he is like the refiner's fire,

or like the fuller's lye.

He will sit refining and purifying silver,

and he will purify the sons of Levi,

Refining them like gold or like silver

that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD.

Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem

will please the LORD,

as in the days of old, as in years gone by.

Lo, I will send you

Elijah, the prophet,

Before the day of the LORD comes,

the great and terrible day,

To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,

and the hearts of the children to their fathers,

Lest I come and strike

the land with doom.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 1:57-66

From the Gospel according to Luke

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child

she gave birth to a son.

Her neighbors and relatives heard

that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,

and they rejoiced with her.

When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,

they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,

but his mother said in reply,

"No. He will be called John."

But they answered her,

"There is no one among your relatives who has this name."

So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.

He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name,"

and all were amazed.

Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,

and he spoke blessing God.

Then fear came upon all their neighbors,

and all these matters were discussed

throughout the hill country of Judea.

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."

DECEMBER 23 - Gospel (Lk 1:57-66)

THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

Dear people of God,

In today's Word of God, God wants to tell and show all humanity the power and might of God manifested in St. John the Baptist, in Zechariah and Elizabeth.

God lets humanity know that there is nothing that God cannot do; like the birth of St. John the Baptist, it was due to God's intervention; therefore, the promise of the angel when he announced the news to Zechariah was fulfilled. When naming the child John, no one knew in advance what that name would be, even Elizabeth herself did not know, until the people asked what the child's name would be, then Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, she named her child John. And the power of God continued to manifest in Zechariah: he was mute because he doubted and did not believe that this event would happen; until the day the child was born, he did exactly as the angel told him, naming the child John, which coincided with the name Elizabeth wanted to give him, and he was able to speak; so the angel's message to him was true because it was fulfilled. This was a very powerful intervention of God manifested in his family and in Saint John the Baptist, whom God sent to prepare the way for the Savior to come to the world. God said that Saint John was a man of God, so John would always be kept and protected by God; and with the mission of being a prophet for the Son of God to come to earth as a human, John was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, and he went out to carry out the mission that God had given him. God is always with Saint John the Baptist on the path of preaching the word of God to humanity, calling people to repent, to abandon sin and open their hearts to receive the Son of God who came to earth as a human. The words of Saint John continue to this day, to show the intervention of the Supreme God manifested in Zechariah, Elizabeth and Saint John the Baptist; this is the power, the authority coming from God; and man cannot do it, without the power and authority of God bestowed upon him.

God invites people in today's world: to run to God, trust absolutely in Him; and ask Him to intervene in your life: ask Him to guide, ask Him to show the way for you to do all the things that God wants from you; only then will you please God, and God will save that person's soul from the captivity of Satan.

Thanks be to God. Amen.