Homily for December 24, 2019

The background of Zechariah’s song is the biblical belief that God’s promises are fulfilled. When at first Zechariah had doubts of faith, he was rendered mute until the day the promised event occurred. Eight days after John’s birth, Zechariah and Elizabeth took him to be circumcised, following the ritual commanded to Abraham. When the time came to name the child, Elizabeth insisted that he be given the name John, as God had prescribed. Those present turned to Zechariah, who confirmed the name, and immediately he regained his speech and began praising God, whose promises are always fulfilled.

Zechariah’s song can become our own, this Christmas Eve, as we pray for a more personal awareness of God in our lives. We see light on the horizon, and we wait in hope for it to become the full, dazzling light of God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ 

We live between the already and that which is to come. A light has dawned but yet to reach and illuminate the darkness in and around us.

As disciples of Jesus, we live in a time of waiting, knowing that the divine light has come to our world, yet still waiting for it to shine in fullest measure. We may even doubt that such a glorious future is possible. But with Zechariah, we can also look up at the dawn, as the first twinkling light of the radiance that God has in store for His people. +