Faith Daily | 15 December 2021

PRAYER of the DAY - Advent Three APBA p 468

Almighty God,

you have made us and all things to serve you:

come quickly to save us,

so that wars and violence shall end

and your children may live in peace,

honouring one another with justice and love;

through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord,

who lives with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: Luke 7: 19-23

So John summoned two of his disciples 19and sent them to the Lord to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ 20When the men had come to him, they said, ‘John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”’ 21Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. 22And he answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. 23And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

GOSPEL Reflection: Contributed by: Rosemary Bruton

Is Jesus the one? Is Jesus the promised Messiah, Emmanuel, our Saviour?

So, John the Baptist needed confirmation that Jesus is the one that he was preparing the way for. Preparing the way for people to come back to God. Jesus doesn’t say “Yes, I am the one”. He replies with Scriptural evidence from Isaiah as well as the physical evidence to the messengers, of the healing that he has been doing and telling people about God. It is not just hearsay, it is happening.

People need evidence. We need the evidence to know that Jesus is the one. When the wise men came from the East, they saw the star (the evidence, the sign), and they knew that they needed to follow it. Jesus gave the woman at the well an account of her life and she then knew who he was. He gave her evidence. The angels appeared to the shepherds in the field, and that became their evidence, to go to Bethlehem and look for the Christ child.

I believe that the reason most of us follow Jesus, is because in some way we have each been given the evidence or confirmation that He is the one to follow. When I was just a schoolgirl, sitting in a classroom in Religious Instruction a quiet voice said to me “This Jesus is real”. That was it for me. I believed. And we hang on to that evidence, our faith that Jesus is real, He is the one, He is our saviour.

FINAL PRAYER: Sun Ai Lee Park, from “In God’s Image” (Hong Kong)

All the broken hearts

shall rejoice;

all those

who are heavy laden,

whose eyes are tired

and do not see,

shall be lifted up

to meet with

the motherly healer.

The battered souls and bodies

shall be healed;

the hungry

shall be fed;

the imprisoned

shall be free;

all her earthly children

shall regain joy

in the reign

of the just and loving one

coming for you

coming for me

in this time

in this world.

Amen