A JOURNEY TO INTEGRITY - ADVENT 2017 - DAY 21

Integrity... to see the hand of God

23rd December

Mal 3: 1-4, 23-24 ; Lk 1:57-66

It is a special gift, to see the hand of God accompanying us, only then can we join ours with God's. That is integrity, to walk hand in hand with God. 

Look at the events in the Word today: What would this child be, every one wondered! What would I grow up to be? What would be my destiny? Aren't these many of our thoughts too, atleast as we grow up! When a child is born a bundle of mystery is born. We would do well to receive it with that reverence and wait on it to unfold itself in its own time! But at times that seems very puzzling, or even frightening as if we are at the mercies of something or someone else - Christian hope is not exactly that!

Our sense of mystery does not come from the mere fact that the prospects are hidden, but from the truth that it lies in the hands of God, who has willed us into existence, with a specific plan for each of us. John the Baptist was foretold as the Elijah to come and prepare the way; the son born of a young maiden was foretold to come and rule the world forever; each of our birth too has been forethought by God from all eternity. 

The hand of the Lord accompanies us, as it did with John and with all other persons of God we come across. It would be our task to recognise this Hand in everything, accept its pointings and walk with love in justice and truth! Can we behold that hand of the Lord in our personal lives, make it the guiding star that would lead us to that manger of fulfillment, fulfillment of all promises. Let us walk with out hands in the hand of the Lord, that's integrity in sum.

In self help theories they say, 21 days is the time needed to create a habit! Ending this 21st day of reflection on the life of the integrity, let us pray and hope INTEGRITY becomes a habit in our lives! 

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 8 - 23rd December

O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Based on the famous prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, the title Emmanuel is the key to the mystery of incarnation. 

The symbol is the virgin with the child in the manger. It is not just any child, but the promised salvation of the God of the universe, the king who has come to meet his subjects to make them co-heirs to his throne.

The prayer is to save us, as the Lord our God... in simple words it is to STAY WITH US, to live with us. to sanctify us, to make us worthy of God and of God's great big family.