December 23, 2014
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Gospel Lk 1:57-66
The Grace of God
The elderly Zechariah and Elizabeth were childless for years until God fulfilled His promise that Elizabeth would deliver a son in time. By giving her a son, God, in His mercy, also saved Elizabeth from shame of being cursed. It was believed that being childless is a great shame and a curse from God.
When Zechariah was asked what to name the child, he asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and the people were amazed. After which Zechariah started to talk and praise God. Those who witnessed were saying, “What, then, will this child be?”
Just like John, our children are God’s grace to us. However, unlike Zechariah whose son, John, was revealed to be great, God did not reveal what our children will be. Not one of us knows His plans for our children. Being parents, we can only have good hopes for them. We can hope that they would be good persons. We can hope for their good health, happiness, safety, love, and success. In other words, we always hope that they will have good and prosperous life.
Despite our high hopes for our children, we also have fears and anxieties on how they will get on with life. As parents, our role is to help them discern and to be by their side not only in good times but most especially in troubled times. When my children failed in some part of their lives, I felt their pain. In fact, I even perhaps shared their pain more than what they felt. As a result, I am not totally healed yet with the failure of one of them as another failure came. We knew that what happened has reasons, reasons that are beyond our understanding, and is part of God’s better plan. We just need to have faith.
We can never tell what our children would be even if we have tried our best to mold them. We can only hope and pray for the best for them.
Lord, I pray that you will bless and guide my children, that you would strengthen them to prepare them for whatever lies in their future.Please do not allow them to hurt others, nor allow others to hurt them. I pray that whatever happens, may they continue to live up to the name of being your children, living according to your most holy will.
Sofia H. Pis-an
Clinical Instructor, College of Nursing
