Frederick, Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Catholic Meditation “The Word Among Us” for Tuesday, 24 June 2014

Frederick, Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Catholic Meditation “The Word Among Us” for Tuesday, 24 June 2014
Meditations: Luke 1:57 Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of the father. 60 His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”
61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” 62 They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.
63 He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.”
They all marveled. 64 His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” The hand of the Lord was with him.
80 The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
The child grew and became strong in spirit. (Luke 1:80)
What do you think is the most impressive thing about John the Baptist? His uncompromising zeal for the Lord? His clear, passionate preaching? Maybe his gift of self-denial or the humility he displayed despite his fame?
How about this instead? That even as a fetus, John leaped for joy in the presence of Mary and Jesus. Imagine: here was an unborn baby, barely aware of life outside of the womb, and yet the muffled sound of Mary’s greeting when she visited Elizabeth filled him with the Holy Spirit and caused such a joy-filled reaction!
John’s leap may remind us of Isaac’s wife, Rebecca, who also felt an unusual amount of activity from the twins in her womb. Rebecca asked the Lord why this was happening, and he told her that something spiritual and prophetic was going on inside of her (Genesis 25:20-23). King David also leaped before the ark of the covenant. He loved God so much he could not contain his joy at seeing the ark of God’s presence finally brought home safely to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:14-15). The prophet Isaiah wrote that in the age to come, when the glory of the Lord is made manifest, even the lame will leap for joy (Isaiah 35:4-6).
All of these dramatic displays show us that there is a part of us that can recognize God, regardless of what we do or who we are. It’s encoded into the way he made us. This ability to recognize the Lord is not limited to unborn babies or great saints. It’s in all of us, and it’s something that the Holy Spirit wants to bring to life so that we too can recognize Jesus more deeply—and rejoice in his presence.
So let’s join John the Baptist and leap for joy. After all, Jesus is present to us just as he was to John—and even more so, since we have been baptized into his life. Let’s tell Jesus how happy we are that he has redeemed us. Let’s praise him for his mercy and his healing power. More than anything else, let’s rejoice that we belong to him, and he belongs to us!
“Lord, I am so glad you live in me. Your love is so strong that it makes me want to sing and dance in your presence. Jesus, I love you!” Amen.

Isaiah 49:1 Listen, islands, to me.
    Listen, you peoples, from afar:
Yahweh has called me from the womb;
    from the inside of my mother he has mentioned my name.
2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword.
    He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.
He has made me a polished shaft.
    He has kept me close in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant;
    Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain.
    I have spent my strength in vain for nothing;
yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh,
    and my reward with my God.”
5 Now Yahweh says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
    to bring Jacob again to him,
    and to gather Israel to him,
    for I am honorable in Yahweh’s eyes,
    and my God has become my strength.
6 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
    and to restore the preserved of Israel?
I will also give you as a light to the nations,
    that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
Psalm 139: For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
1 Yahweh, you have searched me,
    and you know me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up.
    You perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
13 For you formed my inmost being.
    You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to you,
    for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful.
    My soul knows that very well.
15 My frame wasn’t hidden from you,
    when I was made in secret,
    woven together in the depths of the earth.
Acts 13:22 When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 23 From this man’s offspring,[a] God has brought salvation[b] to Israel according to his promise, 24 before his coming, when John had first preached the baptism of repentance to Israel.[c] 25 As John was fulfilling his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ 26 Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you.
Footnotes:
a. Acts 13:23 or, seed
b. Acts 13:23 TR, NU read “a Savior, Jesus” instead of “salvation”
c. Acts 13:24 TR, NU read “to all the people of Israel” instead of “to Israel”
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