With God, Nothing is Impossible

Homily for Tuesday in the 1st Week of Ordinary Time

There are six women in the Scriptures, five in the Hebrew Scriptures and one in the Christian Scriptures, who are described as barren. (Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca, the wife of Manoah, Hannah, and Elizabeth). Today’s first reading tells us the story of Hannah, wife of Elkanah, who bears a son after being married for many years. Her son, Samuel, becomes one of the important figures in the history of Israel. In fact all six of the so-called barren women give birth to sons who are important players in God’s plan of salvation. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, Samuel, and John all figure prominently in the history that leads to the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Childlessness is looked upon as a curse among Hebrew women. Bearing a son is actually the only guarantee that a Jewish woman will find a permanent place in the family of her husband. If the husband of a childless woman dies and leaves her a widow, his family could simply send her back to her father’s house where she would live out her days in humiliation.

This accounts for Hannah’s misery, so vividly depicted in today’s first reading. God hears her prayer and blesses her with a son. We should note that from the time of the Judges until the birth of Samuel, the Bible states that, “the word of the LORD was scarce and vision infrequent.” After the death of Eli, Samuel once again brings the word of God to light in Israel. He is remembered as a priest, a prophet, and as a military leader.

Hannah and her sisters all prefigure and help us to understand the virgin birth of Mary. As the angel Gabriel reminds Mary, nothing is impossible with God. Though the six barren women who come before her all conceive naturally, their situations lead us to believe that it was through God’s mercy and power that they give birth to healthy sons. In Mary God’s grace is at work as she conceives through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.

Just as God remembered these women, God will always remember us and seeks to pour out his saving power through the sacraments of the Church, especially through the Eucharist. We must be open to the grace that God longs to share with us as we receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.