Homily for Friday, 19 December 2014– Ferial

Friday of the 3rd Week in Advent

Readings of the day: Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a; Psalm 71:3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17; Luke 1:5-25

Do we see a pattern here? God sends an angel to a “barren” woman, unable to conceive a child due to age or other reasons. The woman becomes pregnant. The woman’s child is a key figure in God’s plans for us; for the world.

In our first reading, from Judges, the woman is the wife of Manoah. She gives birth to Samson, who is to “begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines.” In our Gospel reading, God’s angel is named: Gabriel. And Gabriel appears to Zechariah, a temple priest whose wife, Elizabeth, like Manoah’s wife, is “barren.” Elizabeth bears John the Baptist, herald of our Lord Jesus Christ, another child conceived during an angelic visitation…

Now, who here would empathize with Zechariah, who is confused when Gabriel says to him that his wife Elizabeth “will bear… a son”? Poor Zechariah is silenced until John’s birth. Could this be because he did not trust that God could do anything, even make the barren conceive life? We cannot fully know why Zechariah was silenced, but I can empathize with him in his confusion at Elizabeth’s conception of John.

God seems to have a habit of making the barren able to conceive. After a few instances of this, God, this habit becomes somewhat strange and scary!

But there is something perhaps scarier than God sending an angel to somebody who is not able to conceive; is not expecting to conceive, to say to this person that she will bear a child and that this child will be significant. What is it?

Imagine (and please pray over) this: Are there any situations in our lives that are barren; that are lifeless? Perhaps it is a broken relationship, especially with someone we love. Perhaps it is difficulty finding calm and peace in our lives, even at prayer. Perhaps our barrenness is something that weighs on our conscience; sin that God invites us to lay down before God’s mercy, especially in the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist. Let us remember the words of Elizabeth at the end of our Gospel reading; trust God to take away any “disgrace before others” and before God that we might be feeling. Perhaps some of us share literally in the pain of Manoah’s wife or of Elizabeth: Inability to conceive of a child when you wish to do so. I pray for you especially as I hear and preach on our readings today.

To bring to light any situations in our lives that are barren; that are lifeless is perhaps most scary; even worse than an angel announcing a pregnancy to somebody who cannot conceive. To bring to light situations like these, our pain, our sin, our struggles in faith, makes us vulnerable. But may we know that God wishes to heal these situations in our lives. God loves us deeply. This Advent, God invites us to bring before him any situations of lifelessness; barrenness, that even when we are beyond any expectation, God may bring life to our lives where we need it most.