JUDGES 13:2-7, 24-25; PSALM 71; LUKE 1:5-25
In first reading the birth of Samson was announced by an angel. Samson was a great defender against the Philistines. In the gospel we read of the annunciation to Zechariah by the angel Gabriel. The angel tells him that Elizabeth, his wife will bear a son despite her years. The angel tells Zechariah that he is to name the child John and that he will be great in the sight of the Lord bringing many people back to the Lord. The ‘barren woman’ appears regularly in the Bible story; the mothers of Isaac, Jacob, Samson and Samuel, and Our Lady gave birth as a virgin. The point is that everything that happens is the plan of God; God does not fail his people and he will not fail you! Zechariah doubted the angel’s message and was punished for it. We ask for God’s grace with our own doubts and difficulties.
Let us pray
O God, who through the child-bearing of the holy Virgin graciously revealed the radiance of your glory to the world, grant, we pray, that we may venerate with integrity of faith the mystery of so wondrous an Incarnation and always celebrate it with due reverence. Amen.
