Stop doubting!

19 December

Luke 1:5-25

Today's story brings us to the precursor or forerunner of the Savior. In the Old Testament, we see the story of Manoah and his wife; from them came forth Samson, who was also the forerunner of the Lord.

But in the gospel, though John's birth had been foretold, Zechariah had to come face to face with his doubts.  Not that he doubted God, but he doubted the angel for saying such things since both Zechariah and his wife were advanced in age.  But the Angel, standing as representative of the Lord in such a holy part of the temple could not accept such excuse; thus, he made Zechariah dumb.

As Christmas approaches, let us learn the hard lesson Zechariah learned:

1. Stop doubting.  We have doubted before the Lord and relied on material things for our security.  We have sacrificed spirituality for practicality.  We have lost sight of God.  We don't know what Church means as the body of Christ.  Christ would still be born, but we need to realize how dumb we have become that we could even give witness to him.

2. Don't despair.  Zechariah must have hoped before that the Lord would be filled with compassion and mercy so as to grant his request of having a child.  This time, however, he fulfilled his duties as a priest, but he lost hope of having one.  We need to examine if we have lost all hopes of a better future that only God can supply for us.  Remember, we cannot bring about a better world; only God can do that.  Our lives run the risk of  becoming useless unless we place our hopes back in God and not of the things of this world.

3.  John, Samson, and our destiny.   These two figures are inspirations for us to know our purpose in life.  The word John means "blessed with grace or divine favor"; Samson means "sun or joy or service".  As Samson and John were destined to rescue Israel and bring back fathers to their children; let us believe fully in the mystery of our own birth as God's source of joy to help change the world for good.  Let us also utilize our lives to prepare the coming of the Lord to the next generation of the children of God and gather everyone to him.

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