Today, the Gospel recounts Zechariah's song of praise after the birth of his son. In the first part, John's father gives thanks to God, and in the second, his eyes look toward the future. He exudes joy and hope as he recognizes God's saving action with Israel, which culminates in the coming of God himself incarnate, prepared by the son of Zechariah.

We already know that Zechariah had been punished by God because of his unbelief. But now, when the divine action is fully manifest in his own flesh—for he regains his speech—he exclaims what until then he could only say in his heart; and how true his words: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel…” (Lk 1:68). How often we see things in a dark, negative, pessimistic light! If we had the supernatural vision of events that Zechariah displays in the Benedictus, we would live with joy and hope in a stable way.

“The Lord is near; the Lord is here.” The father of the precursor is aware that the coming of the Messiah is, above all, light. A light that illuminates those who live in darkness, under the shadow of death—that is, us! May we fully realize that the Child Jesus comes to illuminate our lives, to guide us, to show us the way we must walk! May we allow ourselves to be guided by his dreams, by the hopes he places in us!

Jesus is the “Lord” (cf. Lk 1:68, 76), but he is also the “Savior” (cf. Lk 1:69). These two confessions (attributions) that Zechariah makes to God, so close to Christmas Eve, have always surprised me, because they are precisely the same ones that the Angel of the Lord will assign to Jesus in his announcement to the shepherds, which we will be able to hear with emotion this very night at Midnight Mass. For it is God who is born!