Thursday in the Fourth Week of Advent
Intention: We pray for a faith-filled and transforming Christmastime for our world, one that we fill with peace, justice, and good will toward all.
Today’s Gospel | Luke 1:57-66
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.”
A Short Reflection for the Fourth Wednesday of Advent
William Shakespeare’s Romero and Juliet has endured for over 400 years as English literature’s ultimate tale of tragic destiny. The title characters, hopelessly in love but kept apart by a feud between their two families, struggle to keep their lives from being ruined for no reason other than bad luck in genealogy. Railing against this random twist of fate, Juliet agonizes, “What’s in a name?” With apologies to our young heroine, human experience teaches us that, in fact, quite a bit can lie in a name. Take the story of the naming of John the Baptist. For Israel, a person’s name was his or her shem, a summary of the deeds and traits by which he or she was known or for which it was hoped he or she to be known. Your name placed you within the context of your people’s story and so was meant to capture the essence of your connection to it. For Elizabeth and Zechariah, to depart from family narrative and name their son John was to announce that the trajectory of his life would be something different and would mean something different, not only for himself but for all of his people. A lesson that can be taken from today’s Gospel is that, as children of God, our identity holds the inescapable reality of who we were created to be and why. Our name – the word by which we are known – should speak to the hearer of that identity, of one’s best and truest self being lived and fulfilled. The time of Advent is a time to reflect on what’s in a name, especially our own.
Prayer
Eternal Father, you sent John to prepare Jesus’ way in this world. As we prepare to celebrate the miracle of Christmas, fill us with the grace to bear witness to your Son. May our lives be marked by our zeal in proclaiming the good news that you are with us, and that our salvation has come to us in the birth of our Lord. Lead us to be instruments of your peace and righteousness, working to build your Kingdom and leading one another to know your presence and to welcome your Son into our hearts forever. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.