The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Gary Bacol SVD – Argentina
December 24 – Advent
In community morning prayer, we usually sing the “Canticle of Zechariah” and internalize the joy Zechariah felt when, filled with the Holy Spirit, he prophesied God’s plan of salvation to His “chosen ones.”
Prayer can be expressed in many forms: words, dancing, singing, meditation, reflection. In Zechariah’s case it was in exuberant praise of God for fulfilling His covenant with his ancestor, Abraham.
In his prayer he recognized a faithful God, a God of history and a merciful God who brought salvation. We see a new picture Zechariah: from being unable to speak to recovering his voice completely, from a disbeliever to a great believer, from a sorrowful man to a joyful man.
Being missionaries, our great challenge is how to incarnate the Word of God humbly in our lives and in the people we serve. Like Zechariah we too experience some unfaithfulness to God in words and deeds.
However what drives us to stand every time we fall is PRAYER. Prayer is essential for all believers to be nourished by God’s bountiful grace and infinite mercy. It is an acknowledgment of our dependence on God like a child to his father.
It is in prayer that we humble ourselves and value the One who values us. It is in prayer that we find enlightenment, that we connect to God – encountering Him in the most intimate and mysterious ways. It is in prayer that we are motivated to be a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ and a collaborator in the spreading of God’s kingdom on earth.
We ask, “How is my prayer?” On this fourth week of Advent let us prepare ourselves for the Lord’s coming through prayerfulness.
