The Lord says this to us this very day, “How can I convince you of my love for you?” “That you would be faithful and take up your cross to follow me?”
Will our answer be “Oh I will not put the Lord to the test.” Or will we just remain silent and pretend that we did not hear His call? For this is how we behave when we are called to do more, whether at a meeting in person or a call in placed in the group chat. We simply choose not to respond at all! Is it not strange that we say pray the ‘Our Father’ as One and declare at each Eucharistic Celebration that we are One Body in Him, One family under God our Heavenly Father. Yet will we fail to respond at all in our family group chats? If we say No we will always respond, after all family comes first! Then how is it we treat God’s family of whom we profess to belong to, very differently? How it is it that we can choose not to respond at all? Are we ashamed to give yet another excuse of not making any effort to attend to the call? Or is it simply that we do not care?! We do what we can, when we can period!
Is God with me? If God is with me then my response would always be, let it be done unto me Lord according to Your Word and Will for me. Amen
First reading
Isaiah 7:10-14 ·
The maiden is with child
The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’
Then Isaiah said:
‘Listen now, House of David:
are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without trying the patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself, therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’
Gospel
Luke 1:26-38
‘I am the handmaid of the Lord’
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
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