He will be great in the sight of (the) Lord

19 DECEMBER (Lk 1,5-25)

We believe that God is the only creator of heaven and earth, creating all the visible and invisible universe which is outside of Him from nothing. It is not yet a thought of our heart and our mind that He is also the creator of the human instruments that must operate his salvation on our earth. He is always the one that creates men and women so that they bring, realize, carry out his redemption among their brothers.

John the Baptist is not the work of men. He is a true creation of God, sent into the world to prepare the way for its Messiah and Lord who is about to come. Man only lends his old, sterile body, unable to generate and conceive. The Lord will do everything else. He will be the one to make the barren body Elizabeth fruitful so that it conceives the one that will be called by Jesus the greatest among those born of women.

If we lose sight of this most pure vision of faith, we instantly fall into an immanentism of salvation that produces no real good. Who wants to be an instrument of God in this work, he must let himself be created and recreated, kneaded and re-kneaded, made and remade by God every day. The Lord “creates” first the son of Elizabeth with the help of Zechariah. This “created” son already from the maternal womb will be completely assumed by the Holy Spirit, taken by him to make of him a masterpiece of salvation for all his people. John is filled with the Holy Spirit when he is not born, yet. God wants him to see the light guided and supported by his Holy Spirit.

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 9 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.”

Ascertained the truth of the mystery of salvation, in these days, the hearts and minds of every disciple of Jesus must rise up to God and ask that today he descends also into our history and “creates” the tools of his salvation. If he does not descend and does not create, the world will remain in darkness, in the moral confusion in that truthful involution that will destroy, annihilate and devour it. In order to come down and create he also needs our voice, our mighty cry without any interruption. He will listen to us, will descend, will get down to work and “create” his instruments and the true light will begin to shine again on our earth. God wants man to solicit his intervention.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make yourselves our voice with God.