Daily Reflection – Dec 21, 2018

Friday 21 December 2018

First Reading: SG 2:8-14
Responsorial Psalm:
Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.
PS 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21
Gospel Reading: LK 1:39-45

Today’s Note: Friday of the Third Week in Advent

Gospel Reading:

Mary set out in those days
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth. 
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

Reflection:

Blessed is she who believed. LK 1:45

“I see your face, but I have not met you,” so say the Amazon natives. A little later they would say, “I have met you.”

This might echo your experience of meeting another who has a depth that resonates with you – a way of “being”, an understanding that makes you very much at home with them. It tends to make us feel a certain validation of ourselves – another has seen us for who we really are and has found us acceptable. “Good” in one recognises “good” in the other.

There was such a bond between St Clare of Assisi and Blessed Agnes of Bohemia, though they never met in person, only through letters. Yet, Clare was able to write to Agnes, “Know that I have indelibly written your happy memory into my heart.”

I think that may have been the case with Mary and Elizabeth. We read that there was a significant exchange between them, both recognising the work of God in each other, and we are left to wonder about the other conversations that must have passed between them during Mary’s stay with Elizabeth.

This kind of relationship is needed in all our lives – someone who looks beyond the exterior to who we really are and allow us to do the same with them. Such a relationship gives us a wonderful window into how God wants to be with us. Why not ask God to tell you about himself and you do the same?

A little prayer to say often:
Grant me the grace to see you and know you Lord as you really are. Amen.