FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT
MONDAY
Judges 13:2-7. 24-25
Luke 1:5-25
During this week the Liturgy of the Word lays before us the stories in our history that tell of the promise of a child to childless couples. We know this motif so well. A God-fearing couple long for a child, they pray and what had seemed impossible, is now possible.
Elizabeth and Zechariah appear on our Advent journey as the archetypal God-fearing couple. Zechariah’s name means ‘God remembers’ and as the story unfolds we will see that God has indeed remembered his faithful servants. Elizabeth’s name probably comes from the Hebrew ‘Eli’ meaning God and ‘sheva’ meaning oath. Her name reminds us that God keeps promises.
‘Both were worthy in the sight of God, and scrupulously observed all the commandments and observances of the Lord.’
Both Elizabeth and Zechariah are from priestly families. The faithful keeping of the Torah is a way of life for them. Prayer and worship are woven through their lives. New Testament scholar Amy J Levine invites us to savour the scene as Zechariah performs his duties:
‘The Jewish tradition has always been one of sensory delights: sights and sounds, scents and tastes, attention to the body. Worship not only is spiritually uplifting and beneficial for us but should also be aesthetically pleasing: it gives us, when it can, the gift of beauty, something often needed in a world marked by bullets, poverty and disease.’
Up until now I have rather skated over the details of this story. I have imagined that Zechariah has offered incense many times before. However, scholars suggest that this was a once in a lifetime event. Lots were cast and once you had been chosen, you wouldn’t be included in further lots. The incense offering takes place in the sanctuary. The priest goes there alone. It is one of the most sacred tasks that a priest can perform. Zechariah performs this sacred duty on behalf of the whole Jewish people. But today the revelation he receives is personal. All his hopes and longings as a faithful follower of Torah will now be honoured with the birth of a child. While carrying out the most sacred of duties his prayer is answered. God has remembered Zechariah and Elizabeth.
From the sacred duties in the Temple Zechariah, Zechariah now moves to the sacred duty of preparing for the birth of a child. I’d like to think that his years of dutiful service in the Temple will have equipped him for the life-changing event of the birth of a child.
Monastic life has a rhythm of its own. This is largely set by the cycle of prayer, meals and recreation. It’s all about faithfulness to a path that has been trod for centuries. It’s very ordinary.
I have always been struck by two lines from the Cistercian constitutions: ‘Only if the sisters prefer nothing whatever to Christ will they be happy to persevere in a life that is ordinary, obscure and laborious. And may he lead them altogether into eternal life.’
Few monastics report mountain top moments or anything that would parallel Zechariah’s experience in the Temple. Largely monastic men and women experience the sacred right amongst the very ordinary things of life. The line between the ‘holy’ and the ‘ordinary’ begins to blur after a while. The solemnity with which Vespers is prayed is somehow paralleled by the care and attention given to very ordinary domestic tasks.
When St Benedict writes about the qualifications of the monastic cellarer he suggests that the person chosen should, amongst other things, be ‘God-fearing’ and ‘like a father to the whole community’. Every person and everything with which he comes into contact is to be treated with care and reverence. Nothing is left to chance:
He will regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar, aware that nothing is to be neglected. (Chapter 31, Qualifications of the Monastery Cellarer)
How is God calling you to show care and reverence this Advent?