Man – a Gift of God

Sometimes we can see how the world is really crazy! There are people who want to have children so much that they are ready to do anything – even go to the clinic, undergo various (supposedly not very pleasant) treatments, just to get a child "on demand" and become parents. Others do not want the child so badly that they are ready to kill it before it leaves the mother's womb. Then this child is no longer treated as a gift from God to parents – people want to decide for themselves when and how they will become parents.

How difficult it can be for many people today to understand the behavior of John the Baptist's parents and all the surroundings! Elizabeth and Zechariah become parents, although the woman is considered infertile. She gives birth to a son, and neighbors and relatives see in this the fruit of God's action, who is merciful.All rejoice in John's birth and praise God.

Elizabeth and Zechariah must have resigned themselves to the fact that they would remain a childless couple. They knew they didn't have to become parents. And yet a son comes into the world. This child is certainly not a problem for them, because they see in him God's gift. The very name John speaks of this because it means: God has been gracious. And if man comes into the world in unusual circumstances, surely God has a plan for him. That's why people ask: What, then, will this child be?

The story of John's birth is accompanied by wonder, joy and gratitude to God for his mercy. This is how people react whom look at themselves, their lives and the reality around them with the eyes of faith. Faith is not only expressed in the fact that man turns to God, but faith allows man to see the world from God's point of view. To believe is to see with God's eyes; faith is a participation in his way of seeing (cf. Lumen Fidei, 18). It is faith that makes man see in another man – even in the smallest, not yet born – a gift of God and of someone who has an important task to fulfill in this world. God sends people into the world to change it, filling it with goodness and beauty.

Is it not worth assimilating the trust with which the people in today's Gospel approach the birth of John? Is it not worth taking their gaze full of faith on the world and on people, in order to see in every person – even in the one who is yet to be born – God's gift for parents and for the world, and ask: What, then, will this child be?

Who does not know the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and his hit Time to say goodbye? Opera songs and arias performed by him conquer the hearts of listeners around the world. When Andrea was still under her mother's heart, she found herself in the hospital with pains. The doctors then told her that the child would be blind. By providing this information, they suggested that an abortion be performed. His mother flatly refused.

And if the doctors asked themselves: Who will this child be? could they think about taking his life at the same time? And if Andrea's mother had not seen in him a gift of God and had yielded to the persuasion of the doctors, how poor would the world be without the beauty of his voice?

Every birth of a child is a sign that God has not yet "tired" of man. Every child coming into the world is His gift. The unborn is already part of God's plan and has an important task to fulfill. May the birth of every human being be accompanied by the joy with which John the Baptist and our Savior, Jesus Christ, were welcomed into the world!

until Tomorrow

fr. george