All in Favor

Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

Read this Gospel passage aloud to the family

Matthew 17:10-13 – As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" He said in reply, "Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

(Parent)  Reread this part a few times aloud

“…they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased.

(Parent)  Read this meditation aloud to the family

Elijah was the greatest prophet in Jewish history.  It was foretold later, in the last prophetic books of the Old Testament Scriptures, that God would send the prophet Elijah again before the day of the Lord (Malachi 3:23-24, 4:5).  That prophecy would be fulfilled in John the Baptist.  When the angel Gabriel told John’s father, Zechariah, that he was going to have a son, the angel also said this son would come “in the spirit and power” of Elijah.  And John was well aware of this; he shows it clearly in his ministry.  John was not Elijah himself, and he made that clear (John 1:21), but he had the spirit of this great prophet.

John fascinated many people.  Many loved him.  Many hated him.  But both sides were fascinated with him.  John was the kind of person that anyone who encountered him had to deal with.  They had to choose whether they were for him or against him.  He had clearly staked his life on Christ.  He belonged to Christ.  This being the case, John got to experience in his own life a small part of what Christ experienced being accepted or rejected by others.  All saints stake their lives on Christ.  They belong to Him.  Their decision wins them friends, and it also makes them many enemies.  And the same will be true for us.  Have we so clearly chosen to be on Christ’s side that people have to make a chose how to deal with us?         

As a family, pray a portion of the Rosary together (very short if children are young) reflecting on the Scripture passage above. (Optional: allow a brief time for discussion or questions from children concerning their thoughts and prayer.)