Daily Gospel Reflection
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December 19, 2020
In the days of Herod, King of Judea,
there was a priest named Zechariah
of the priestly division of Abijah;
his wife was from the daughters of Aaron,
and her name was Elizabeth.
Both were righteous in the eyes of God,
observing all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren
and both were advanced in years.
Once when he was serving as priest
in his division’s turn before God,
according to the practice of the priestly service,
he was chosen by lot
to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense.
Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside
at the hour of the incense offering,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him,
standing at the right of the altar of incense.
Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him.
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
because your prayer has been heard.
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you shall name him John.
And you will have joy and gladness,
and many will rejoice at his birth,
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
He will drink neither wine nor strong drink.
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb,
and he will turn many of the children of Israel
to the Lord their God.
He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah
to turn the hearts of fathers toward children
and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous,
to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”
Then Zechariah said to the angel,
“How shall I know this?
For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
And the angel said to him in reply,
“I am Gabriel, who stand before God.
I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.
But now you will be speechless and unable to talk
until the day these things take place,
because you did not believe my words,
which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah
and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary.
But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them,
and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary.
He was gesturing to them but remained mute.
Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home.
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.”
Why is Zechariah struck mute? It seems the cause is his unbelief. This is true, but I also imagine that he is struck mute as a way of forcing him to listen.
Zechariah becomes mute because he does not believe what the angel says to him. He has prayed for a child with his wife for years and years. The angel announces to him in vivid detail the son that will be born to him and Elizabeth, and their son’s role in proclaiming the Messiah. Yet, Zechariah still asks, “How shall I know this?” Even an angel of God appearing to him in the sanctuary of the temple cannot overcome the doubts stemming from his old age and Elizabeth’s age and previous inability to conceive. Gabriel’s response says, in a way, “did you not hear what I just said? This is happening.”
How often do I fail to listen to God? Even when good things are happening in my life, like the joyful news in today’s gospel, I sometimes persist in doubt and worry. This can be a case of a lack of faith but I think the cause is more often my failure to really listen to God in my life. When I am not listening to God through prayer and intentional discernment, it is easy to miss the many messengers of good news that appear in my life.
So perhaps Zechariah’s mute condition is a blessing rather than a punishment. If his fate for not believing Gabriel’s message is the opportunity to listen more deeply, then perhaps this recompense was meant to draw him closer to God (and to his wife in her pregnancy). Zechariah is prescribed a silent retreat in the midst of his everyday life, in a way.
As Zechariah falls silent to prepare for the birth of his son, we too quiet ourselves in these final days of Advent to prepare for the birth of Christ.
Prayer
Lord, the infant in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy when you drew near in the womb of your mother Mary. “Blessed are you,” Elizabeth said to Mary, “and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Help us to experience the same kind of joy, Lord, as we welcome you each day into our lives. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Blessed Pope Urban V was a dynamic and charismatic leader of the Church during the tumultuous fourteenth century. He was the sixth of the seven legitimate popes who were based in Avignon rather than in Rome.
Pope Urban was born as Guillaume de Grimoard in 1310, in a southern province of France—Languedoc—to a noble family.
In 1327, when he was only seventeen, Guillaume entered the Benedictines at their small priory of Chirac, which was a daughter community of the well-established and highly revered Abbey of St. Victor near Marseille, where he later became abbot.
Guillaume was monumentally well-educated and received degrees from universities in Montpellier and Toulouse. He was a renowned canon law expert and taught at Montpelier, the University of Paris, and the university at Avignon.
In 1352, Pope Clement VI asked for Abbot Guillaume’s assistance in managing the many conflicts in Italy that were plaguing the papacy. Guillaume later transferred this expertise in managing conflict into his work as Papal Nuncio to Italy.
Guillaume was still stationed in Italy as Papal Nuncio when Clement’s successor, Pope Innocent VI, died in September of 1362. Guillaume and twenty other cardinals flocked to Avignon to participate in the conclave. Guillaume, however, arrived at the conclave late, delayed in the journey from Italy to Avignon.
In the meantime, while he was still on the way, the conclave had decided that Abbot Cardinal Guillaume would be the best choice for successor.
Guillaume, elected pope before he even arrived at the conclave, was informed of the decision upon his arrival. He humbly accepted the position and took the name Urban V, citing the saintliness of his predecessors who had taken that name.
As pope, Urban V continued to adhere to his Benedictine lifestyle and lived a simple life of stability and poverty. Urban V sponsored the renewal of Monte Cassino, the storied Benedictine Abbey in southern Italy.
He also contributed a great deal to education. He gave papal consent in 1364 to the university in Kraków that Polish King Casimir III the Great founded, which is commonly known as Jagiellonian University. One of Jagiellonian University’s many renowned students was the future Pope John Paul II, Karol Wojtyła.
Urged by many public and holy figures to return to Rome, Urban V arrived at the Eternal City in October of 1367, the first Bishop of Rome in sixty years to set foot in his own diocese.
His reign in Rome was short-lived. The French Cardinals begged him to return to France, and in September 1370, Urban V returned to Avignon. In December of 1370, Urban V died at the home of his brother, Cardinal Angelic de Grimoard, surrounded by those he loved.
Pope Gregory XI, his successor, opened the cause for his beatification. An antipope, Clement VII, halted the process, and the divisions in the Church, which had caused so much unrest in Urban V’s lifetime continued to disrupt his story after his death. Urban V was finally beatified on March 10, 1870, by Pope Pius IX. He is a patron of the Benedictines and a patron saint of missionaries and educators.
Blessed Pope Urban V, who sailed the Barque of Peter through stormy seas and turbulent times—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Pope Urban V is in the public domain. Last accessed November 21, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
