Homily for Thursday of the 4th Week of Advent

The background of Zechariah’s song is the biblical belief that God’s promises are fulfilled. When 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, following the ritual commanded to Abraham, took him to be circumcised. When the time came to name the child, Elizabeth insisted that he be named John, as God had commanded. Those present turned to Zechariah, who confirmed the name, and immediately he regained his speech and began praising God, who always fulfills His promises.

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 the 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 what has passed and that which is to come. A light has dawned but has yet to reach and illuminate the darkness in and around us.

As disciples of Jesus, we live in a time of knowing that the divine light has come to our world, yet still waiting for it to shine in the 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. +