Daily Gospel Reflection
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December 23, 2019
Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.”
They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God.
Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.
Earlier in Luke’s Gospel, an angel visits Zechariah, telling him that his wife will soon conceive and bear a son, and they are to name the son John. Zechariah answers with disbelief. While Luke doesn’t say exactly how old Zechariah and Elizabeth were, we know that “they were both advanced in years,” and thus Zechariah’s doubt isn’t without basis. The angel punishes Zechariah for his misgivings by making him mute until the child is born. When Zechariah fulfills the angel’s prophecy by naming the boy John, his muteness vanished—“his mouth was opened and his tongue freed.”
It is not hard to imagine being in Zechariah’s position—he was faced with something seemingly impossible. How often are we faced with intractable problems in our daily lives? When faced with a challenge, it is too easy—and some would say socially acceptable—to brush it off as unmanageable. Unlike Zechariah, we do not have the benefit of an angel literally telling us that a seemingly impossible obstacle is the will of God.
Zechariah had to be patient. God’s will for us will become clear when we follow Zechariah’s example—when we take up his patience and prayerfulness.
Today, let us be mindful of what obstacles we will face with those close to us, whether as large as a cross-country move or simply a difficult, dreaded conversation. Let us meet these obstacles with Zechariah’s prayer and patience.
In the words of the Our Father, we pray, “Thy will be done.”
Prayer
Lord, we hear in today’s Gospel about the birth of John the Baptist. He was to go before you, clearing the way and lighting up the path you were to follow. Now it is our turn to prepare the way for others to find you by the way we lead our lives. Give us the courage and zeal of John to do so. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. John Cantius was a brilliant Polish scholar who cultivated a life of holiness just as much as he cultivated the life of his mind.
He was born 1390 in Poland, and attended Krakow Academy, where he eventually earned a doctorate. He was ordained a priest three years after graduating, and went on to teach sacred Scripture and physics. His work helped pave the way for insights from Galileo and Newton.
He was a popular professor, and some of his colleagues were jealous of his rapport with students. They spread false rumors about him, and he was moved to a parish in a remote, small town. He was terrified of his new role, but took it seriously, working diligently and patiently with the people to whom he was assigned. It took eight years for his name to be cleared, and when it was time for him to return to the university, the people from the small parish mourned his loss—they followed him out of town for several miles, asking him to remain with them.
John made four pilgrimages from Poland, traveling by foot to Rome three times and once to the Holy Land. He was known for a simple lifestyle—he only possessed and ate what he needed, and gave generously to the poor.
The story is told that once, as he sat down to his dinner, John saw a beggar passing by in the street. He stood up and immediately went outside with his bowl of food and gave it to the beggar, saying nothing.
“Fight all error,” he would tell his students, “but do it with good humor, patience, kindness, and love. Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause.”
John died at the age of 83, and his tomb remains a popular pilgrimage place in Krakow.
St. John Cantius, you were the professor who made your life a study in holiness, pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. John Cantius is available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Last accessed November 7, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
