In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah…; his wife was a descendant of Aaron named Elizabeth. Both were just in the eyes of God, blamelessly following all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. They were childless, for Elizabeth was sterile; moreover, both were advanced in years. Once, when it was the turn of Zechariah’s class and he was fulfilling his functions as a priest before God,… an angel of the Lord appeared to him.…The angel said to him: “Do not be frightened, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth shall bear a son whom you shall name John. He will be great in the eyes of the Lord.… Zechariah said to the angel: “How am I to know this? I am an old man; my wife too is advanced in age.” The angel replied: “I am Gabriel…now you will be mute—unable to speak—until the day these things take place because you have not trusted my words.…Afterward, his wife Elizabeth conceived.    

Things happen to us. Sometimes they alter our lives; sometimes they are just part of everyday living. One of the most important questions we can ask as we study them is why they happen, as George Malley does in this session of the movie "Phenomenon." He screams at the sky: "Is somebody trying to tell me something?" The Christian not only senses that "somebody" is directing what happens, but actually believes that such a "somebody" is no less than God.

Zechariah did not know why the things were happening the way they were. He could easily have shouted with George Malley: "Is somebody trying to tell me something?" He simply knew that the things that were happening were an answer to prayer. He had doubted what the angel had said to him, and so, he was paying the price for his lack of trust. But the important thing was that God was directing what was going on, and it was a good thing.

We all have things that happen to us. We think that they happen because of the places that we were born in, or the parents we were given, or the circumstances we inherited, and indeed, that is part of it. But, as a believer, one of the challenges we have is to look at things in a different light than we have before. Those things are happening as the result of decisions that we have made or have been made for us and at the same time the result of what God wants for us as God directs our lives.                   

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, you are directing our lives even though at times we do not realize it. Help us work together with you, so that we can improve ourselves a little more. Be with us, we pray.

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America