GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 24TH JUNE 2016
SOLEMNITY OF THE BIRTHDAY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
1ST READING: Isaiah 49:1-6
PSALM: Psalm 139:1-3, 13-15
2ND READING: Acts 13:22-26
GOSPEL: Luke1:57-66, 80
THEME: FULFILL YOUR PURPOSE
God does not play lottery up there in heaven and leave the work of his hands to chance. No one comes into this world by accident.
The First Reading is one of the four “servant of the Lord” oracles in the Book of Isaiah. In the text for today, the servant declares, “The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me…And now the LORD says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God has become my strength– he says, ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth’” (Isa 49:1, 5-6). Thus God speaks of having a clear purpose for the life of this servant of his, a purpose that could be traced to his mother’s womb.
Similarly, in the life of John the Baptist, whose birth the Church celebrates today, one can discern a divine purpose underpinning his existence. His parents insisted that his name should be John, in view of the divine role he was to play. John himself in the Second Reading would say, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he (i.e. the saviour). No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet’”(Act 13:25).
Divine destiny has been placed on each one of us. We must discover it and live it joyfully. Once the purpose has been discerned, one should mark out a pathway to its fulfilment, looking neither to the right nor the left. It is good to be inspired by someone but to imitate someone is to lose your originality and to become a copy of another original.
The question, “What will this child turn out to be?” (Lk 1:66), is one worth personalising and reflecting upon. What am I becoming? Am I happy with the way my life is unfolding? God has a purpose for every one he brings to this earth and until one discovers that purpose, one would live an unfulfilled life.
Fr. Andrews Obeng, SVD
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)