John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, rendered speechless by his elderly wife's pregnancy now has a lot to say in today's gospel. So important is this ‘Song of Zechariah', or Benedictus, as it is popularly called, it is recited every day at Morning Prayer in the breviary, or Divine Office. It is a hymn of celebration inserted by Luke into the story of John's birth. The Spirit at work in the divine happenings heralding the birth of Jesus is the same Spirit active in the words of Zechariah.

The first half of this song emphasises the faithfulness of God, who fulfils the promises made to the people of Israel. The prophecies of the Old Testament will be fulfilled in Jesus, the one the Jews have been waiting for. So, too, Jesus is the one we have been waiting for, even if we haven't been aware of it. St Augustine says that everyone without exception desires happiness, even when they go about it in ways that are guaranteed to deliver the opposite, like various forms of addiction, pleasure for its own sake, or personal ambition at the expense of everything else. For Augustine, only God will truly fulfil our yearning for happiness.

In the second half of Zechariah's song, John the Baptist is declared to be the final prophet who will ‘go before the Lord' and prepare the way. He alerts us to the coming of the one who will bring to fulfilment all our deepest yearnings and desires. Even though God comes among us surprisingly as a crying infant, the fact that the way has also been prepared prevents it from being dismissed as a non-event, which could so easily have happened. Let us see this final day leading up to the birth of Jesus as a time to prepare ourselves.  But let us also be open to the unexpected.

A meditation written Fr Paul Graham O.S.A., Assistant General on the Augustinian Council for Northern Europe, including the Provinces of Ireland, England & Scotland, Poland, Germany, Austria and Slovakia

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