*Saturday 24th June 2023 Daily Reflection and Meditation*
_“What will this child turn into?”_
*Good morning and happy solemnity of St John the Baptist.*
The question that many proud parents would ask about their new baby would be: What will this child turn out to be? The question then comes to each one of us: Have we lived up to God’s expectations for us?
_*Have a blessed weekend.*_
*SATURDAY OF THE ELEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A 2023*
*_Solemnity of the Nativity of St John the Baptist_*
*WHAT WILL THIS CHILD TURN INTO?*
_“What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel. Luke 1:65–66_
*Readings: Isaiah 49:1-6. Acts 13:22-26. Luke 1:57-66, 80.*
Whenever we travel in strange places, we get to know the importance of signposts which point the way and indicate direction. At a spiritual level, John the Baptist was only a signpost. Himself warns us: I am not the one you imagine me to be.” He was formed by the hand of the Lord. Thomas Aquinas would say that John was sanctified in the womb of his mother Elizabeth: “He will be filled with the holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15).
John “grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.” He remained deeply united to God and was filled with the Holy Spirit.
According to the Jewish tradition and custom, he was to be named Zechariah, after his father, but he was named “John,” the name he was given by the angel at the announcement of his birth. This surprised everyone since there was nobody in that family who bore such a name. Upon being name ‘John’ Zechariah’s dumbness was opened and he begun to praise God. Is he a contradiction? He was the least yet the greatest: “I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John…” (Luke 7:28).
Each one of us is called to be guided by the hand of the Lord each and every day. God wants you to become “strong in spirit” so that you can fulfill the unique will given to you. Like him, let us have an unwavering obedience to God and allow ourselves be formed by God, eventually fulfilling the mission entrusted to each one of us.
He gives to you some particular mission He has not entrusted to another. Say “Yes” to the mission entrusted to you and you shall be considered “great” in the God’s kingdom at the end of time.
*Let us pray*
_Lord, help me to be open to all the graces you bestow upon me so that I may fulfill the unique mission given to me. Amen_
*Have a blessed weekend.*
_*Rev Fr Francis Wambua, SJ*_
*Jesuits, Eastern Africa Province*
_*Malindi-Kenya*_