Micah is considered as a young contemporary of Isaiah and well known as the prophet of authentic worship/service to God and social justice. Today's 1st reading is taken from the Book of Micah which speaks of the coming Messiah, the future perfect King of Israel which was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Whenever I hear about people who are able to tell the future I have always been skeptical and never really believed them to be true. But in the case of the prophets like Micah, we can never be in doubt for their prophecies are all confirmed and supported by other prophets in the Old Testament even those who have not lived in the same era. This is what fascinates me most when I started to join the bible study in San Lorenzo especially when presented with the timeline of the bible from the time of Adam and Eve (2000BC), the Patriarchs (1900-1700BC,Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph), Moses (1300-1200BC), the time of the Judges (1100BC), Saul, David and Solomon (1000BC), exilt to Babylon (600-500BC)post exile under Persians, Greeks, Maccabeans and Romans (400-100BC) and finally to the time of birth of Jesus Christ. The bible covers over 2,000 years. Fascination, I guess is an understatement especially upon acquiring a broader understanding and knowledge of these things that surround the birth of our Savior. Everything that has been foretold about Jesus was fulfilled. It never ceases to amaze me whenever I encounter prophecies about the birth of Jesus from the Old Testament which were written hundreds of years before it came to be. It proves time and again that the words of God remain and never fade. It gives as an assurance that if the Lord says so then it will come to pass. Micah mentioned that the one who is to come is from of old and ancient times. This is very true for Jesus the 2nd person of the Most Holy Trinity and is God. The Word of God became flesh in the womb of the Blessed Mother and dwelt among us. We too, have our own personal prophecies that are yet to pass. If we entrust it to God then we can be assured that God will make a way and make it happen in our lives. It is through Mary's cooperation and obedience to God that it all came to be. It is a consolation to know that we have a good mother who cares and loves us more than any mother could do. This is no other than our Blessed Mother Mary whose birthday we are celebrating today. We come to Mary, the mother of Jesus our God and also our mother like children longing to be in her tight embrace and be part of that one big blessed family of God. Amen. Hallelujah!
Micah 5:1-4
The LORD says: You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. (Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, and the rest of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.) He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; and they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.
The LORD says: You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. (Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, and the rest of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.) He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; and they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.
If we continue to be faithful to God he will give us joy in our hearts, not just joy in good times but also a heart that overflows with gladness in all kinds of situation, a heart that beats for the Lord and will always find rest and satisfaction in Him. To belong in the flock of the Lord under the Good Shepherd's care makes us want for nothing more. Just think of this, if certain animals are capable of such a noble and admirable act of love toward their young, how much more us, humans. To top it all we are assured of the love and care of the most perfect human mother who ever lived on earth. Praise and thank God for His goodness in sharing to mankind His mother, Mary, a heavenly mother. It was through the total surrender of the Blessed Mother Mary to God’s will that the Word of God is manifested in her life. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary. We can learn a lot from the kind of life that Mary lived and ask her to intercede for us. For who could better show us the way to Jesus other than her who gave birth to our Savior Jesus Christ. We also in our own way can conceive Jesus although not in our wombs but in our hearts and who could better teach us to do this other than the mother of Jesus whom He gave to mankind at the foot of cross, “Behold your Mother.” She understands for there is nothing that she doesn’t understand since she experienced the killing of her Son. So we ask her today to lead us to Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah!
P S A L M
Psalms 13:6, 6
R: With delight I rejoice in the Lord.
5 [6] Though I trusted in your mercy, let my heart rejoice in your salvation. (R) Let me sing of the LORD, “He has been good to me.” (R)
Today's gospel may seem to appear like a meaningless, annoying repetition and unending reading of strange names that gives us the impression that the reader might want to read it quickly to get it over with. But getting to know the characters, one realizes the mystery of God's choice concerning the ancestors of the Messiah. The book of geneology is divided in 3 parts, 1st the patriarchs, 2nd the kings before the exile and 3rd the kings after the exile. The geneology started with the patriarchs, with Abraham, who is the father of Isaac. This makes us realize the mystery of God's choice based on Divine logic. Furthermore we can see from this long line of ancestry that only Hezekiah and Josiah who were both kings at the time of the exile were righteous people. And only two kings also from the time after the exile namely Shealtiel and Zerubbabel remained faithful to the Lord. We can also see how King David lived in sin and sanctity when he committed adultery and murder as he had confessed in the Psalms. Even the name of Bathsheba who King David committed adultery with was not mentioned in this geneology. We can also see the names of Tamar, who disguised herself as a prostitute to deceive Judah and Rahab who originally worked as a prostitute but played a vital role in the fall of Wall of Jericho. Another thing worth mentioning with regards to this geneology is this, in the Jewish tradition the # 3 and 7 stands for perfection and completeness. It is interesting to know that there are 3 sets of 14 generations from the time of Abraham to the exile to the time of Jesus. So why the #14? The significance of the #14 stands for the name of King David which is equivalent to 14 in Hebrew. The 3 sets of 14 stands for perfect royalty and king that all leads to Jesus. It could also be equivalent to 6 sets of 7. The #6 signifies the date when the beast is made or the beginning thus the #666 which signifies the beast of all beasts. The 6 of 7 sets could mean the beginning of the 7th set. 7 is also the Sabbath. The new 7 is the new creation. Jesus is the beginning of the 7th set. Why the fuss in all of these? It is a consolation to know that we have a God who is King. The King of kings and the Lord of lords. The list could just go on and on and we would never run out of amazements. Nothing in the life of Jesus happened by accident everything that was foretold by the prophets came to fulfillment. We can see from this long line of ancestors that God does not always choose the perfect ones. Putting aside, Mary who is the Immaculate Conception and Joseph the foster father of Jesus, who are the most perfect people who ever lived on earth as we all know and believe as Catholics which further justifies the birth of God who is without sin. There is no doubt that Mama Mary will always be our link to Jesus. For the Almighty, All Knowing and Holy God deemed it best to choose Mary to bring forth Jesus into the world that we too in our lowliness should never doubt in believing God's choice as the best and follow after Him. We are reminded of this wonderful story of the holiest family who ever lived on earth. We are all part of a particular family. No matter how broken our lives and race may be we must never lose sight of this membership in the family of God that we are all invited to be a part of. By becoming one we too, are healed. Jesus came from an imperfect race as we can see various personalities that are sinners but His family tree was healed in Joseph and Mary. It is important that we are aware that we are part of this Holy Family (Jesus, Joseph and Mary) that God has given us. The awe and wonder of this truth should never leave us. We should carry it always in our hearts and minds since it is written, "God is with us." On top of all these we can draw inspiration from the fact that God is able to make all things beautiful. What seemed to be insignificant and of low worth at first God can turn into something great. Sinners though we all are, we can still turn into saints. Everything has a reason and a mission and is in transition. The fulfillment of all our prayers is at hand. Amen. Hallelujah!
Matthew 1:1-17
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, 6 Jesse the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. 8 Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile. 12 After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah. 17 Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
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