Monday, Lectionary 473, Oct. 17.

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Scripture: Lectionary 473. Romans 4:20-25. Luke 1:69-70.71-72.73-75. Luke 12: 13-21.

Our prayer is the Response. It happens to be the Benedictus or song/psalm of Zehariah, the father of John the Baptist. It shows us how faith is to be put into prayer and action with the salving promises of God always being fulfilled for those who believe and take the time to ponder over the history of salvation through our belief.

Paul continues to help us deepen our faith by his inspired words of wisdom given to him as the grace of the Holy Spirit. He will explain what he is talking about in the sixth chapter which can be used as more background for our first reading, Romans 4:20-25. Paul demonstrates the gift of faith through Abraham’s call and response; a gift and a grace of putting faith into action. We hear all three monotheistic religions claiming Abraham as the founder and father of faith. We learn later from Luke how Mary too is a model of faith similar to Abraham but in a new context of ongoing salvation history.

To be saintly (justified) disciples of Jesus we need the gift of faith followed up by a sign of commitment that we are believers. For Jesus and his people it was the sign of circumcision made first with Abraham as the commitment sign; with us, it is Baptism which gives us the gifts of faith, hope, and love that are to be developed throughout our lives. We activate these gifts by recalling them and responding in thanksgiving for these graced gifts from God. Prayer is of the essence of the sacrament and its words and sign. Through Baptism we are like Paul who has had a tremendous conversion experience involving the presence of the Risen and Living Voice of Christ in his Alife. He now shares that life with all of us through his most developed epistle, our continuous reading during these weeks.

We believe that Jesus is the one who has reconciled us to God by his death and resurrection. We know that Jesus is our Redeemer and that he wants us to participate in the joys and gifts of his glorious resurrection proving he has conquered death, sin, and Evil (the Devil). Jesus is the ultimate gift showing us God fulfilling his promises made throughout the Scriptures both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Paul’s personal experience of the Risen Lord accepted the gift of faith and now preaches, teachers, and writes about this magnificent gift from God. God now does great things for us through the mysteries of Jesus that we experience through our union with him in prayer, suffering, and thanksgiving. Christ becomes fully alive through our faith just as he did for Paul. Our faith opens up all of the mysteries of Christ not as secrets but as life-giving signs of God’s love through his Son. (See John 3:15-16). We are to be conformed to Christ and to hear the living voice of Christ when we read and pray and listen to the Epistles, the Gospels, and the other writings found in Scripture. Paul message is very clear: “…our faith will be credited to us if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Jesus who was handed over to death for our sins and raised for our justification (our wholesome holiness and call to sanctity). Amen.