Today's Readings - http://usccb.org/bible/readings/121911.cfm
There’s a lot to take in for today’s readings. But let’s try
to concentrate on two things. One, is the striking difference between Zechariah
(todays first reading) and Mary (yesterdays gospel reading). Two, the
significance of the word “barren” in our spiritual life.
Let’s ponder on the difference between Zechariah and Mary first.
Both of them were visited by an angel, and both of them were given a message,
for Zechariah, his wife would bear a son in her old age, and for Mary she would
conceive a son without having relations with a man. Both messages are hard to take in, because to
them it would be impossible to happen given the circumstances. But the striking
difference is that Mary had total faith in God, but Zechariah had some doubts.
And so Zechariah was punished for doubting God and became mute till John was
born, on the other hand Mary received God’s message with her full heart and
conceived the Savior of the world. What I learned from Mary is that I have to
put my total trust in God even if it doesn’t make any sense in my mind. I
have to give my total faith in trust in the Lord that goes beyond my way of
thinking, in order for the work of God to be completed in me.
Now let’s talk about the word “barren”. This word has been
used in the bible so many times. And in the olden days, it is a disgrace to be
called “barren”. I can just imagine, how difficult it must be, not to conceive
a child. So I thought to myself, why is it that “barren” is always mentioned,
even to Jesus’ teachings? I can almost hear Fr. Bill Halbing talking behind my
ears…LOL…can you tell? I’m a Fr. Halbing fanatic? Though he hasn’t accepted my
friend request on Facebook yet. Anyway, when I was in my young adult stages I
have struggled with the meaning of “Living Water”. I just don’t get it.
I try to visualize and rationalize things (that’s my sci-fi mind working
again). It just clicked after having listened to Fr. Halbings talks. You see, “Living
Water” symbolizes the Holy Spirit, and water symbolizes life, when we were
baptized with water, we become children of God, and so we are washed
symbolically and spiritually, and our body and soul becomes a clean vessel for
the Holy Spirit. When we are confirmed, we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, so
now after having been cleaned by water and stains of sin washed after the
baptism of water, the anointing of the oil instills the Holy Spirit in us. So now, where
there is water, there is life. In spiritual terms, since the Holy Spirit now
dwells in us, so is the flow of living water gush forth from us. That is why I
really do feel that during confirmation, those young kids that are being (confirmed)
baptized into the Holy Spirit should have the same effect as those people being
baptized in Life in the Spirit Seminar, they should be praising God, speaking in
tounges, prophesying…and all the wonderful gifts of the Spirit. But what you
see sometimes are blank faces, it’s as if nothing happened, no wonder the
experience is not so profound and something is holding them back to receive the
full experience of the Holy Spirit like Zechariah. Let’s go back to the word “barren”,
in the bible it was mentioned that the evil spirits roam around the earth
looking for barren places or dwelling (Matthew 12:43). Why is that? Because barren
is a symbolism of dryness, it means when you are dried out, the Holy Spirit
doesn’t dwell in you or cannot work or operate in you. You see evil spirits and the Holy Spirit cannot
co-exist in one body, the other one must be driven out. So what dries out the “living
water” in us? I would like to share with you what has dried me out of the Holy Spirit in
the past and I hope that this will help anyone of you reading this in your
spiritual life:
Living a worldly life
and living according to world or going along with the norms of the society, lack
of prayer time, lack of appreciation of the Word of God, lack of effort in
understanding the word of God, lack of trust in God and doubting God, unforgiveness,
hatred, anger, malice, lack of appreciation to things in life…and the list goes
on and on…
You see all these things and more have dried me up before.
It drove away the Holy Spirit away from me, and for a long time I thought it
was just normal. My life before is that after mass, I would like to hurry to
get out of there; I didn’t see the need or appreciation for the presence and
graces of the Lord in front of me. I did not know that the more I spend time
with the Lord in mass and in prayer, the more I get in tune with Him. So my
friends, let’s not drive out the Holy Spirit in us. Let’s keep the “living
water” flowing in us. Keep praying, keep reading and reflecting on the bible…day
and night, keep caring for your families and others, let’s reach out to one another and ask how
we are doing and check up on one another, let’s share the joy we have in our
hearts having found Jesus in our lives, with our friends, families and
neighbor, most especially to those who do not believe in Jesus and those who
are in sickness and despair. Let us keep the light of Christ shining in our
lives, let God work through us through Holy Spirit and be like Mary!
Jesus loves you!
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