Canonization of Mother Marie Eugenie
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gospel reflection
The Nativity Of St. John The Baptist, June 24, 2007
Isaiah 49: 1 - 6
Acts 13: 22 - 26
Luke 1: 57 - 66, 80
God is gracious...
At the news of his son´s birth, Zachary remained speechless.
He was a priest and the priest is the one who proclaims the
Word of God. When God speaks, however, man should be quiet and
contemplate. Zachary remains mute until the birth of his son.
He gets his speech back when he announces his son´s name,
John, which means God is gracious.
Zachary can speak again when he writes the name of the
child, the name that proclaims God´s favor, the name of the
one who will proclaim the fulfillment of Israel´s hope, God´s
visit to his people. John will be the prophet of the Most
High. Paul proclaims in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia,
that John´s mission was to announce the one who was coming, to
prepare the way of the Lord.
The Liturgy invites us to understand this man according to
the figure of the servant in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.
The servant´s mission was to lead the people back to God, to
bring them close to the Lord. He proclaims the time of grace
for Israel, the divine day of salvation. The Lord sets his
servant as light for the nations so that salvation may extend
to the ends of the earth.
The figure of John the Baptist, along with that of the
servant, reveals something of God´s graciousness to us, and
something of our vocation as disciples. It reveals God´s
fidelity to his people. Salvation comes from God alone, the
merciful God who shows favor to all those who receive him. The
disciple, like John the Baptist, like the servant, is called
to be a witness, a messenger of the Good News of the Lord´s
coming. His role is mediation, he does not work for himself or
his own glory, but for Another who is greater and before whom
he should be self-effacing. We are thus invited to confidence
in the only One who can save us, and we are invited to assume
the role of mediator. To be heard, Divine Benevolence must
find those places through which it can pass, the « divine plan
in face of human recalcitrance »; that is, human liberties
that consent to reveal God´s goodness and who are
self-effacing, making place for God. Let us be such men and
women.
- Sr. Sophie Ramond, RA