November 28, 2018
My Dear Brothers and Sisters, I greet and bless everyone in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. The blessed word that God has given for you today is from the book of Luke 1:28, And having come in, the Angel said to her, “ Rejoice highly favoured, one, The Lord is with you.”Blessed are you among women.”
There are many kinds of greetings and blessing in the Bible. Apostle John while writing a letter to Gaius, addresses him as “beloved Gaius” whom I love in truth. And he blesses him in this manner. “Beloved I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.” He sends a note of personal greetings to Gaius. In the same manner we see how the Angel Gabriel descended from heaven, came down to meet Mary the mother of Jesus, and greets her with words of blessing. During Bible times it was the custom of the people to greet each other. This is in practice even in the recent times. Greetings are an expression of friendly or respectful regards. Greetings is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention and to suggest a type of relationship or social status between individuals or groups, of people coming in contact with each other.
So Mary in response to the greetings from the Angel says, “What manner of greetings was this?”For she was troubled at heart. But from this, one must understand, that even Angels in heaven are pleased to greet the children of God on the earth. Having met the Angel of God and having been informed about the conception of Elizabeth, immediately Mary hastens to visit her relative Elizabeth and Zachariah. Though Elizabeth was of much age, she was pregnant and had a baby within her womb. The child in her womb was John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ. The Bible says, there was no one greater than John who was born of a woman. Mary entered the house of Zachariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, (who was supposed to be the Mother of the Son of God, Jesus Christ,) said, “When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb, jumped for joy. “And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said to Mary, Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
Likewise we see how the Angel of the Lord greeted Gideon; He said “The Lord is with you, mighty man of valour.” Similarly we see how Boaz , when he returned from Bethlehem greeted the Harvesters. “The Lord be with you.”And they in return answered”, “The Lord bless you.”There was another instance when Jesus was healing the demon, that a certain woman from a crowd called out to Him saying, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” Thus we see the necessity of greeting others and blessing them too from the depth of our heart.
Hence let us learn to greet and bless each other. God honors the blessed words.
God bless you.
Prayer:
Our loving heavenly Father, we thank You for this blessed day. Lord teach us to greet one another with true love from the depth of our heart. Help us to learn to respect the feelings of others especially those who are in need. Fill our hearts with good spirit and friendly intention. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
