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Advent Weekday
Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24
Psalm 25:4-5AB, 8-9, 10 & 14
Luke 1:57-66
Summary
This collection of readings is remarkable in two ways. First, there is a
clear evolution in our relationship with God in these writings. Second, the read-
ings become more interesting and potent as we go through them.
Reflection
In Malachi, the prophet announces that the Lord in sending his messenger. It
becomes clear that this event is filled with foreboding and a fear of the Lord
which is founded on dread. The psalmist enjoins us to "lift up (y)our heads and
see" that the Lord is teaching us his "paths". The remarkable quality of this
"teaching" is that it is done in friendship, in "kindness".
In the Gospel, Luke describes the arrival of the long-awaited "messenger". This
"messenger" is born out of God's mercy, of God's kindness, to the old woman,
Elizabeth. The quality of "mercy" is first named in these readings, a quality cen-
tral to our Christian understanding of who God is to us. This is the story of the
"naming" of the messenger, and the name chosen by both parents is unprece-
dented and radical for their family line: there is no previous relation with this
name. Thus is the name John
is
chosen. To add to this mystery, once the fa-
ther, Zechariah, has chosen this name
,
his state of muteness is ended. His
mouth "is opened, his tongue freed" so that he can bless God. Then notes Luke,
"fear" came upon all their neighbors. This is a fundamentally different fear than
that described by Malachi: it is the "fear" or awe of the Lord, not the dread of the
Lord.
Prayer
