I'd like to revisit the role of John the Baptist during this Advent season. Yes, I've already spoken of him twice, but today I'd like to focus on today's Gospel, which tells of the first mention of his birth. The angel Gabriel appears to a man named Zechariah and announces that his wife, Elizabeth, will bear a son, despite the fact that she is too old to naturally conceive. Gabriel says that, "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."
There are many striking similarities between this announcement and that of the birth of Jesus to Mary. Both are given by the angel Gabriel. Both reveal a miraculous conception in the bodies of two women who, naturally speaking, should not able to procreate. Both make promise of the significant role that the Holy Spirit will play in making all this happen. And both tell of the spectacular influence that these two unborn babies will have on the rest of the world.
John the Baptist therefore, even from the first moment of his conception, foreshadows the coming of Christ. He is completely dedicated and given over to God even in his mother's womb. And indeed his entire life will be one that is completely dedicated to God and to pointing forward to Christ, who is to come after him. In these few remaining days of Advent, let us pray that we too may be filled with the Holy Spirit so that our entire life may be totally dedicated to God and given over to pointing others to Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to come upon you in a new and powerful way, so that you may be transformed by the fire of His love and that that love may burn bright in your heart this Christmas, as it burned so powerfully in the life of John the Baptist, even from the moment of his conception.
Pax Vobiscum
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