Why is it that the most critical moments in our faith journey are centered around babies and their mothers? 

The first time we meet Moses his mother, whose name we never learn, is floating her baby down the Nile in a papyrus basket so that he will not be murdered. 

The angel Gabriel will appear to the Blessed Mother and announce that, with her consent, the Holy Spirit will descend upon her and she will be given a baby who will be our Savior. 

But, before that happens, the angel appears to Zachariah to inform him his elderly wife, Elizabeth, will bear a son who will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb, and spend his life preparing the world for the arrival of Jesus. 

The only narrative we have comes from Luke which we will hear today in the Gospel, as the angel tells Zachariah: 

“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 for he will be great in the sight of The Lord.” 

“John 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, and he will turn their ears toward their children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.” 

St. John the Baptist, please pray for us.