After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she went into seclusion for five months, saying, “So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.” (Luke 1:24-25 NABRE)
Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were the parents of John the Baptist. They were already considered old and Elizabeth had never been able to have children. At that time, this was thought to be the result of a curse or punishment for sin.* However, as a sign that nothing is impossible with God, their prayers were finally answered and Elizabeth bore a son.
So often, we pray for things, for health, for others, for peace, for guidance, and all the other needs and wants of the human condition. And just about as often, we feel our prayers are not answered. We want answers in our time. We want answers that match our expectations. Yet, God, whose ways are above ours, often answers our prayers in unexpected ways. The question for us is, how do we respond when our expectations are not met?
Lord God, thank you for answering my prayers, big and small. Please give me the patience to await your answer to my prayer and the discernment to recognize your answer when it arrives. Protect me from frustration, anger, and bitterness when I do not receive an answer from you in the time or manner I want. Instead, remind me of the words your son taught me to pray, your will be done.
Today, I will seek to be patient, awaiting the answer to prayer in God's timing, not my own.
Blessed Pope Urban V, fourteenth-century Benedictine monk and canon lawyer whose goal it was to reunite the Eastern and Western churches, pray for us.
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