Today is Thursday,
December 19, 2013.
Good Morning.
A thought for the day:
We all long
for a savior.
The Church’s 1st reading for today: Judges chapter 13
verses 2-7, 24-25
There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan
of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah.
His wife was barren and had borne no children.
An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,
“Though you are barren and have had no children,
yet you will conceive and bear a son.
Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drink
and to eat nothing unclean.
As for the son you will conceive and bear,
no razor shall touch his head,
for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb.
It is he who will begin the deliverance ofIsrael
from the power of the Philistines.”
The woman went and told her husband,
“A man of God came to me;
he had the appearance of an angel of God, terrible indeed.
I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.
But he said to me,
‘You will be with child and will bear a son.
So take neither wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean.
For the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb,
until the day of his death.’”
The woman bore a son and named him Samson.
The boy grew up and the LORD blessed him;
the Spirit of the LORD stirred him.
whose name was Manoah.
His wife was barren and had borne no children.
An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,
“Though you are barren and have had no children,
yet you will conceive and bear a son.
Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drink
and to eat nothing unclean.
As for the son you will conceive and bear,
no razor shall touch his head,
for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb.
It is he who will begin the deliverance of
from the power of the Philistines.”
The woman went and told her husband,
“A man of God came to me;
he had the appearance of an angel of God, terrible indeed.
I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.
But he said to me,
‘You will be with child and will bear a son.
So take neither wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean.
For the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb,
until the day of his death.’”
The woman bore a son and named him Samson.
The boy grew up and the LORD blessed him;
the Spirit of the LORD stirred him.
* * *
One of the
greatest icons of the 20th and 21st centuries is Superman. As youngsters, many
of us boys (and girls too, I’m sure) daydreamed about having super powers like
Superman. However, if you've followed any of the movies, cartoons, comics or TV
shows, you know that even with all his super powers, Superman and every other
Super Hero has personal problems. But that doesn't negate the fact that we can
learn some things from super heroes or the portrayal of super heroes such as
Superman.
I grew up reading comic books and
so did a lot of you. And we learned a lot about being a hero. While we may have
read a variety of other comics like The Hulk, Flash and Green Lantern, the holy
trinity of super heroes in my book was Superman, Batman and Spider-Man. And it
wasn't just the comics. Remember the 1950's TV series, The Adventures of
Superman, starring George Reeves. They had two different Lois Lanes but Jimmy
Olsen and Perry White, the editor, never changed.
"Faster
than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's
Superman!"
No doubt many may consider the
Biblical Samson as a hero of his time: a
man or great physical strength, trying to right the wrongs when evil would
raise its dastardly head. Was his power
in his hair? Hmmm. We’ll save that issue for another time. Was he a hero?
This Advent season cautions us to
direct our spiritual energies in search of the One blessed by God, the One in
whom the spirit of the Lord resides.
God bless,
Father Pat
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