Fr Matthew Reese

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, *
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people *
for the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God, *
whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us;
To give light to them that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
—Luke 1:76-79

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today is the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist, and though this day (like all major feasts) has special propers for Morning and Evening Prayer also, it’s in the Gospel at mass that we hear the actual story of John’s birth (Luke 1:57-80).

The beginning of the Gospel of Luke is the story of two miraculous conceptions—that of John by Elizabeth, and of Jesus by her cousin, Mary. Earlier in Luke, we heard Mary’s song of praise, the “Magnificat,” but in this scene, we hear the song of Zechariah, the “Benedictus.”

Zechariah was a priest of the Temple, and though he and his wife, Elizabeth had been faithful and “righteous before God,” they had not been able to have a child, and were now in old age.

But Zechariah, as he was censing the altar in the midst of the temple one day, had a miraculous vision of an angel. Elizabeth would bear a son, a prophet, who would be filled with the Holy Spirit and prepare the way of the Lord. But before this would all come to pass, Zechariah would be rendered mute.

And so it happens, until the child is presented in the temple to be circumcised and named. As soon as Zechariah writes on a tablet “his name is John,” his tongue is loosened and he proclaims this extraordinary thanksgiving to God (“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel…”) which we still read daily as the second Canticle in Morning Prayer.

The theme of this soaring address is preparation.

John points the way to the one who is coming after him, the self-same Christ whom we prepare to meet—in our prayers, in the Holy Sacrament of the altar, and at our very last.

On this Feast, may we look forward as John looked forward, may we be fearless in proclaiming the coming of Christ, as John was fearless, may we be ready to recognize the Son of God, as John recognized him.

Amen.

—Fr Matthew