December 20   (from the book: Where is the Child? by Fr. R. Marcos (Makati: St Pauls);  pls responsibly acknowledge source when using publicly)   fr tam nguyen’s photo   First Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14 The Lord spoke to Ahaz: Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as Sheol, or high as the sky! But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!” Then [Isaiah] said: Listen, house of David! Is it not enough that you weary human beings? Must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel. A. Short Background on the First Reading 1. It will be good if we go to the historical context of this First Reading, to recall the situation of the time it was written. Israel was then a kingdom divided into two.  There was the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom ravaged Jerusalem, the holy city and the capital of the southern kingdom. King Ahaz was the leader of the south. When Isaiah prophesied that the southern kingdom would experience a victory, thanks to God’s fidelity, King Ahaz had a hard time believing this claim. It is then that Isaiah uttered the words that provide the motive of believing. There would be a sign that “the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel.”  The woman was not given a particular name but she must have been Ahaz’s young wife, and the child was his heir, Hezekiah. Hezekiah would continue the lineage of David in the monarchy of Israel. 2. This reading is an excellent springboard for the Gospel, on the annunciation of the archangel Gabriel to Mary.  Isaiah’s young woman is now identified with Mary, another young woman of Israel, a virgin, soon to be the mother of the Messiah.  The child is Jesus, the true Emmanuel, the longed-for Messiah.  Jesus is of the line of David and so he supports the prophecy of Isaiah regarding the continuity of the monarchy, with Jesus now the ultimate and eternal King. B. Reflections on the First Reading Reflection 1: God’s initiative The First Reading puts in the foreground an essential aspect of God’s way of dealing with humanity, which will be conspicuous in the message of the Incarnation. It is the divine initiative, the gratuitousness of God towards us. It is not a merely unexpected act, but a surprising one in favor even of the rebels, like Ahaz. The Lord proposes to Ahaz a saving solution towards victory. He asks the king to demand a sign so he can bring it about. Ahaz pretends not to desire offending the Lord and so he does not want to ask for a sign. But God knows it is not the real reason. Ahaz’s heart is stubborn and his mind closed. Even if the king does not ask, God continues to give the sign. This aspect of God’s initiative is very important because it defines the essential content of salvation: it is the work of God flowing from his mercy, not a result of any man’s action, but only because God wills it. God loved us first. If we believe this, then we are ready to receive the joy of Christmas. We do not need to do anything for God to embrace us and take us to himself. God’s love is a gift and as such, one to be gratefully received and celebrated. Reflection 2: God in Our Midst This is the most famous of the prophecies of Isaiah. In it we see not just the promise of an ordinary king.  As Christians, we see in it the promise of God’s own Son coming among the people.  He has a name: Emmanuel, God is with us. To believe in Emmanuel is to believe that God is always present, never absent; God is always available, never too preoccupied; God is always at work, never taking his time in rescuing his beloved. Jesus is truly the Emmanuel born of the virgin and sign of God’s abiding love.  As he lived his earthly life, Jesus showed that God is present to all—rich and poor, educated and ignorant, healthy and sick, men and women, young and old.  But in a special way, in Jesus, the disadvantaged, the marginalized, the alienated find a companion and a secure refuge, a remedy to the loneliness that entraps them in their life of separation from the rest of society. But the name Emmanuel finds its real and most powerful resonance neither on the crib nor in the public ministry.  Its most cogent expression will come towards the end of Jesus’ earthly journey. Jesus will be most Emmanuel when he hangs on the cross. He is supremely Emmanuel as he rises from the dead. God-with-us: in our experiences of pain, helplessness, and death. This promise was made first in the form of a child born in a manger.  The fulfillment will happen in the form of the One who is crucified and risen. Reflections 3: Sacraments and Sacramentals It is natural for people to look for signs. There are an abundance of signs around us today. But the meaning that we derive from them is limited because we stop at the superficial and secondary causes accessible and comprehensible to human reason. We do not progress towards the ultimate since we stop with what seems enough. It seems that now things are easier to understand. There are few mysteries left unexplained. There are ready explanations for almost anything. The reading calls us to see beyond the signs around us and probe deeper to meet the giver of the signs. In the Church God supplies us with a multitude of signs of his love. There are effective signs from the seven sacraments. There are sacramentals, little objects that remind us of God each moment. These are simple signs from the … Continue reading SIMBANG GABI DAY 5: READINGS AND REFLECTIONS