Ngày 23/12 (Luke 1:57-66)

Ngày 23/12 (Luke 1:57-66)
Trong Tin Mừng hôm nay, Thánh Luca mô tả sự ra đời của Thánh Gioan Tẩy Giả cũng như loan báo sự ra đời của Chúa Jêsus, giống như thế việc rao giảng của thánh Gioan Tẩy Giả là việc loan báo về sứ mệnh của Chúa Kitô. Thánh Gioan Tẩy Giả được Thiên Chúa chọn là một trong những tiên tri vĩ đại nhất của Ngài. Khi còn bé nhỏ, ngài bất lực và thiếu thốn. Là tiên tri, ngài đã cho chúng ta thấy sự khiêm tốn và luôn biết đặt mình vào sự phó thác nơi Thiên Chúa.
Qua phép rửa của chúng ta, chúng ta nhận được sự viên mãn của Chúa Thánh Thần. Chúng ta được cũng được rửa sạch và nhờ quyền năng của Thánh Linh mà chúng ta trở thành con cái của Thiên Chúa . Chúng ta cũng được xức dầu với ân sủng để làm tiên tri. Chúng ta làm chứng về ân sủng này qua việc chấp nhận một thái độ khiêm tốn thật trước mặt Thiên Chúa và những người chung quanh của chúng ta. Ân sủng của phép Rửa đã trao cho chúng ta một phẩm giá vượt xa Thánh Gioan Tẩy Giả.
Giống như Thánh Gioan , chúng ta được đặt tên mới. Giống như Thánh Gioan , chúng ta được ban cho một phần trách nhiệm quan trọng trong kế hoạch của Thiên Chúa, là để làm chứng cho cuộc sống mà chúng ta đã lãnh nhận trong Phép Rửa. Điều Thiên Chúa muốn chúng ta là làm chứng nhân cho Chúa Giêsu Kitô và đem Tin Mừng của Ngài đến với mọi người. Chúng ta không thể làm được điều này nếu không có sự trợ giúp của Chúa và chúng ta không thể nhận được sự trợ giúp của Chúa nếu chúng ta không có sự khiêm tốn, đó là điều mà Chúa Giêsu gọi là sự nghèo đói của tinh thần.
Tin mừng hôm nay mang lại cho chúng ta một sự suy ngẫm và nhấn mạnh tầm quan trọng của lời nói. Những khi nào và ở chỗ nào chúng ta nên sử dụng lời nói? Xin Chúa cho chúng ta biết trở thành những chứng nhân hùng biện của Thiên Chúa và biết nói lên những sự tốt lành của Ngài đối với toàn thể nhân loại. Chúng ta hãy sử dụng lời nói của chúng ta một cách khôn ngoan và làm những việc công chính với súc mạnh của tiếng nói của chúng ta.
 
My Reflection on Dec 23, 2019
In today's Gospel, Luke describes the birth of John the Baptist as announcing the birth of Jesus, just as the preaching of John the Baptist would announce the mission of Christ.
John the Baptist was chosen by God to be one of His greatest prophets. As a baby he was helpless and needy. As a prophet, he displayed the same humility and need for God.
We, too, are anointed with the grace to be prophets. We testify to this grace through embracing a truly humble attitude before God and our neighbor. The grace of baptism confers on us a dignity that far surpasses that of John the Baptist.
In our baptism we receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We are justified washed clean and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we become children of God. Like John, we are given a new name. Like John, we are given a vital part to play in God's plan, which is to witness to the life that we have received in baptism. What God wants us is to be witnesses to Jesus Christ and his Good News. We cannot do this without God's help and we cannot receive God's help without humility, which is what Jesus called the poverty of spirit.
Our mouths were created to give glory and praise to God, and yet we use our mouths for many purposes other than to praise God. Sometimes we defame, curse, gossip, eat excessively and spread lies with our mouths.
The Gospel makes us ponder and underlines the importance of speech. When and where should we use it? Let us be fierce witnesses of God and speak about His goodness to all mankind. Let us use our tongues wisely and do justice to our power of speech.
 
December 23, Advent Weekday
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. Luke 1:59–63
At the time of John the Baptist’s birth, it was customary for family, neighbors, and others within the community to gather for a child’s circumcision on the eighth day. According to Genesis 17:1–14, when God appeared to Abraham and established a covenant with him and his descendants, circumcision was instituted as the external sign of this covenant for every male child on the eighth day. Over time, it also became customary to name the child as part of the ceremony.
The naming of a child in Jewish tradition was significant. A child’s name connected him to his family and continued the family lineage. It was a way of honoring the family member whose name the child was given. Customarily, the firstborn male was named after his father or another significant relative. That’s why the family and friends who gathered for John’s naming and circumcision were surprised when he was not named Zechariah after his father and even more surprised when he was given the name John, a name that no other relative had.
The inclusion of this story in the Gospel narrative indicates that John’s name and its departure from Jewish custom hold special significance. Giving him a name that no other family member had was God’s way of indicating that John’s family, identity, and mission extended beyond his blood relatives. The name John means “God is gracious” or “God has been gracious.” Hence, John’s name points beyond his life to God, the Source of grace. His mission was universal, preparing the way of the Lord for all people. Through John, the gateway of God’s grace and mercy is proclaimed, and Jesus, the source of grace and salvation, enters. 
As we reflect on John the Baptist and his unique identity, we should also ponder our own identity in Christ. While family is the first and most important community where we come to know God and learn to love, God also calls us to an identity that transcends our biological family. We receive our most important identity through baptism. Just as circumcision was the sign of the Old Covenant, baptism is the sacrament that initiates us into the New Covenant in Christ.
Through baptism, we take on a new identity and become members of the one, eternal family of God. All who are in a state of grace are brothers and sisters in Christ, with God as our Father and the Blessed Virgin Mary as our spiritual mother.
Reflect today on your identity in Christ. In many cultures, it is customary to receive a new name at baptism, symbolizing this new identity. Ponder the identity given to you through baptism, the identity that defines who you truly are. Embrace this identity with all your heart.
My Lord and God, in You and You alone do I find my true identity. Through my baptism, I have entered into Your family of grace and become a child of Your Father in Heaven. Please help me to fully embrace this Christian identity and dignity, always living as the child of God I am called to be. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Reflection on Dec 23, 2025
Opening Prayer: Almighty and ever-living God, as the Nativity of your Son according to the flesh draws near, I pray that your merciful love flow to me from your Word, who chose to become flesh of the Virgin Mary and establish his dwelling among us.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Rejoicing in God’s Mercy: The Gospel about John’s birth reveals three fundamental attitudes we should have as Christians. The first is exemplified by Elizabeth, who, with her neighbors and relatives, rejoiced in God’s mercy. Elizabeth longed for a child, and her prayer was finally heard. She suffered sterility, but did not give up hope or abandon her trust in the Lord. When she conceived, she turned her thoughts to God in gratitude. She saw the response to her prayer as a display of God’s mercy (eleos). Mercy is not something we are owed. It is freely given. Elizabeth and her relatives and neighbors were likely thinking about the gift of a child. But what they did not know was the future of that child, and how he would prepare the people for the coming of their merciful Lord in the flesh. In our daily prayer, we need to imitate Elizabeth and rejoice in all the merciful actions of God towards us. We need to trust that our heavenly Father will respond in ways that far surpass what we desire.
2. Blessing God: Another fundamental attitude of Christian living is found in Zechariah. He has been punished with silence for nine months. He was a righteous man, but doubted the Lord’s message through the angel. When he confirmed that the child should be named John, this can be seen as an act of faithful obedience to the Lord. Zechariah did just as the angel Gabriel had commanded (Luke 1:13). The name, “John,” means “YHWH is gracious.” This act of faithful obedience, in contrast to his earlier doubt, loosed his tongue, and he broke out in a song of praise. “He spoke blessing God” (Luke 1:64). Zechariah was not angry with God after nine months of silence, but rather wanted to praise God for the great things he had done and will do. Often God permits us to suffer only to lead us to a greater love, trust, and holiness. Zechariah was not a bad person, but he had room to grow. In our lives, we need to imitate Zechariah and, as Psalm 34:1 says, bless the Lord at all times.
3. Taking Things to Heart: Luke speaks about a fear that came upon the neighbors of Zechariah and Elizabeth. This is not a servile fear, but the filial fear that is the beginning of wisdom. It is a fear of the Lord that humbly recognizes who God is and who we are. The prideful of heart do not take steps toward wisdom. Arrogance and pride blind us because they give us a false picture of God, the world, and ourselves. The third fundamental attitude is seen in those who heard the things that God had done for Elizabeth and Zechariah and took them to heart. Humility and spiritual poverty allow a soul to contemplate in prayer God’s merciful and just actions in the world. A humble soul is patient and does not presume to have all the answers. 
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, King of all nations and keystone of the Church, come and save us, whom you formed from the dust of the earth and in whom you breathed your life-giving Spirit.