And both were advanced in years

Jdg 13,2-7.24-25a; Ps 70,3-6.16-17; Lk 1,5-25.
19 DECEMBER

Is the perfect knowledge of the history of salvation sufficient to welcome the Word that today the Lord addresses to us in purity of faith? Reading the history of the Exodus, as it is narrated by the Books of Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, before a new event, a new difficulty, the faith of yesterday, founded on the experience of the Omnipotence of God, was always not enough anymore. Complaints, murmuring, declaration of wanting to return to Egypt, shouts hostile to God and against Moses began. If history is not enough, on what must faith be founded for there to be an immediate response to the Lord who speaks, manifests, invites, points, guides and works? The answer can only be one: on the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us and in which we grow, reviving day after day its light, truth, wisdom, intellect, knowledge, justice and fortitude. Without a constant and uninterrupted growth in the Holy Spirit, the new history can be transformed into the death of our faith. Zechariah is a just and irreproachable man in the Law and Commandments of the Lord. The angel announces to him the great mystery of the birth of John, the forerunner of the Christ of God and his faith gets jammed. He does not believe in the words heard. He sees himself and not God and thinks of the sterility of his wife rather than of the omnipotence of his Lord. All the strength, the wisdom, the advice and the science of the Holy Spirit, the only one who puts man’s thoughts in perfect communion with the will of the Lord, are lacking in him.

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 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.”

Today there is total unfastening of the Christian from the Word of Christ Jesus, from his Gospel. Separation from the Gospel attests and reveals a departure from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is the true, perfect, holy, divine, eternal and immortal communion between the Christian and the Word. The Christian moves away from the Spirit, he will necessarily turn away from the Word. How will he approach the Word again? Growing up in wisdom and grace. But this is impossible today. The commandments can no longer be preached and morality cannot even be taught. The man must be left in his flesh. Flesh, Holy Spirit and Word might never enter into communion. Because of a false and lying anthropology, man is condemned to eternal falsehood.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help the Christian to grow in grace and in wisdom.