Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,

Is 49,1-6; Ps 138; At 13,22-26; Lk 1,57-66.80
24 JUNE

When the Word comes out of the mouth of the Lord, it is always fulfilled. It is never said in vain. It never falls empty. In the temple, the Angel Gabriel had announced to Zechariah the great event of the birth from him and from Elizabeth, his wife, of a son, with a particular mission, but he did not believe. The Angel gives him a sign: you remain mute until all these things will have been accomplished. They will all be duly accomplished in due time. Conception was accomplished. The gift of the Holy Spirit to the conceived child when he was still in the womb had happened through the Virgin Mary. Childbirth had been accomplished. Zechariah was still mute. The last fulfilment is missing: the imposition of the name that took place on the day of circumcision. Zechariah writes on a tablet that the child’s name is John and at once he opens his mouth and his tongue is loosened. Now he can narrate the works of the Lord, he can prophesy who this child is and why the Lord sent him.

Those present at birth praise the Lord for the great wonder accomplished. Elizabeth is in everything like Sarah, Abraham’s wife. It was in her that the Lord manifested his omnipotence for the first time. Then he manifested it in Rebecca. And more in Sara. In Anna, Samuel’s mother. God is truly present in the life of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Seeing God present in one’s life is the obligation of every man. This obligation must be a hundredfold in the Christian. Even in the smallest events of life God reveals himself and works with grace, mercy, benevolence and love. However, after the language of Zechariah is loosened, the attention of those present immediately passes to John. What will it be of this child? Everyone knows that the Lord is with John, but they still do not know the purpose for which the Lord gave him birth. The end is immediately indicated by Zechariah in his hymn of blessing and praise to his God. John was born because he must go before the Lord to prepare his way. The Lord to whom he must prepare the way is the Christ of God, the Sun that is born from above, the Sun that is God and who has come to dwell in the flesh in our midst. John will be the prophet of the Most High.

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbours, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.

Another truth that needs to be highlighted requires that it be immediately said that the Holy Spirit does not leave John the Baptist at the mercy of men, their schools, their doctrines and their thoughts. The Spirit of the Lord wants to be his one and only Master. Because of this, from an early age, moves John so that he withdraws into deserted places. Contact with men contaminates the mind and the heart. John cannot contaminate himself. He must be the man with the purest listening to the Word of God. Between him and the Lord there must not even be the shadow of a thought or a word of the earth. A wrong decision of his, an ill-treated presentation of Christ Jesus would suffice and the plan of the Lord’s salvation would be polluted. Instead, the Holy Spirit, from the Mother’s womb, makes John his own and no one might ever go through the breastplate of fire placed around the Precursor of the Lord. It also applies to Christians. If they let themselves be taken from the world, they pollute themselves with the thoughts of the earth. Little by little they no longer know what thought is of God and what of the world. It is confusion.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that Christians are of the Holy Spirit and never of the world.