Daily Bible Reflections - June 24,2013

Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist

 

NAME TAGS

 

He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name.” – Luke 1:63

 

I remember a classmate of ours named Jun who projected a strange image as far as we were concerned. We would call him “the exception to the rule,” a different kind of personality, a deviant, a weirdo and not a PLU (Person Like Us).

       We later found out the reason for his attitude and behavior: he was label-conscious. Being the eldest and the only son in a brood of five children, he was brought up and trained to be a strong man at all times — to speak with authority, to walk upright, to be inflexible as a bamboo and to not cry.

       Yes, we found out all these things. But it was too late because we discovered these at the funeral parlor where his body laid in state.

       In today’s Gospel, relatives disapproved of the name that Elizabeth and Zechariah wanted to give to their son because none of their relatives had that name. But the couple chose to follow the Lord’s leading instead of caving in to pressure.

       In the final analysis, we really don’t have to live up to what people think of us. What matters is what God says. Dr. Henry Yu (henrio_md@yahoo.com)

 

Reflection: We are all God’s children and are each called by Him in a special way. We are not meant to be a xerox copy of somebody else. We are made in the image of God and we are meant to live up to that.

 

Father, remind us not to tailor our lives according to labels and name tags but to live up to the name that You gave us.

 

St. John the Baptist, pray for us.