Luke 1:67-79
The Canticle of Zachary
If you follow the prayer cycle of the Church you would find that each day morning the Divine Office r ends with this wonderful canticle. There is NEVER at time that it is not 
included. There might be many things happening in your life, and it might pass you by, or you might fail to see the importance, but this Canticle of Zachary, is a great hymn of gratitude to God. It allows us to discover the spirit around us, and it welcomes the new day-one fill with Love and Compassion of God’s unending Love.
Zachary found a reason to be grateful and to celebrate even though he was, for a moment, struck with a being “dumb” for his disbelief of God’s message. But how can you be full of gratitude all the time? Luke tells us that with the newly reinstated speech, Zachary was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” It is important to know that the way forward is to always look with thanksgiving to what had come before. God had visited the people—“As he promised through the mouth of His Holy Prophets from of old.” Zachary recalls the promise to rescue the people of Abraham from their 
enemies. This litany leads to a great celebration of those last of the great prophets who “will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.” Zachary’s canticle radiates the new order the high priest’s own son; he will bridge the old and the new. He will become the mouthpiece announcing the coming of the Messiah who is to come.
When you pray the Divine Office in the morning you are collected together with all the people of good will and recall the works of God. You can NEVER have enough gratitude. This path of gratitude is a way of memory, recollecting the past, and creating a path forward to fully recognize God’s mission for each of us.
Benedictus Dominus Deus!
©www.LawrenceMcCrobie.com
Elizabeth, as they were well beyond their child bearing years, and yet they had been blessed with a baby. Not only were they now blessed with this gift of new life, they were also greeted with the notion that this young baby boy—John—would be someone with an important vocation, “For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.” This was reaffirmed as Zachary had been struck “dumb”, but when he finally was able to speak, he spoke of the blessing that God had given to them. God had truly been so good to them, and it was all such a welcomed and joyous gift. They could not have known that the greatest gift of all was soon to be given. The gift of the Father’s Son, Jesus Christ, would soon be upon them and the whole world. He would soon come to begin His mission of salvation.
Sometimes the words of “gratitude” and “thankfulness” are not easily found in our own vocabulary. We often hear people refer to the act of “giving thanks to”, but never do we hear giving thanks because. We forget that at times we fail to be thankful for what God has granted us. When we see others that need more than we—we should not grumble but rather give thanks. When we are interrupted because someone calls, or comes to see us—we should not become irritated, but rather to welcome it as a visit or call from Christ. The Gospels tach us to have gratitude, to come to understand that all we have is a gift from God, and that we should always remain truly grateful for these gifts.
Mary is able to shake off the worries that surely were coming to her in this instance and doing so with the understanding that God surely had a plan for her, and for this situation. Mary is able to take God at His word, and with that trust the Word made flesh is dwelling within Mary—and is soon to be the Savior of the world.
bear in our body the Body of our Savior. This is why we are always greeted by the Priest with the words from the angel—“The Lord be with you” (cf. Lk. 1:28)—because it is at this sacrifice that we are also offered the opportunity to choose to carry Christ in our bodies, if we all could only understand this concept fully and would allow it to become our fiat.
many of us! After sharing the message Zachariah was rendered mute, unable to speak. So, for nine months he spent waiting for the birth of their child. They may not have known it, but they were VERY much part of God’s plan.
the image of God? Afterall we were indeed created in the image of God and in his likeness. Christ, God become human, spent his life showing us the human dignity of living in the image and likeness of God. Since Jesus died and rose from the dead, he sent the Spirit to live within us so we can live as Jesus lived, and be his presence in the world which we live. We must take this message and share with others, as we have been given the greatest gift of all.
A more exact statement is to; Do Not Be Afraid! And we are indeed blessed with four different accounts of the Birth of Jesus. Each of the Gospel narratives have their own theology, creating a unique and somewhat different point of view. In this Year A, we come across Matthew’s encounter with the birth of Jesus. It is important to note and understand that Matthew was writing for a Jewish community—which is why he begins with the male aspect of the family, St. Joseph. Matthew places emphasis on the fact that Joseph is a man that is suffering from the news that Mary is indeed pregnant. And that it is not biologically of his line. Joseph is at a crossroads. What should he do? When we look at Luke’s account, which is at contrast, Mary becomes the central figure. Her fiat from the question posed by the Archangel 
Gabriel – this narrative is a much different angle of the story of the incarnation. You can see how the different accounts take on new meaning depending on which “lens” one looks through: In Matthew it is through the lens of Joseph, and in Luke’s account it is through Mary’s. The result is in fact the same, the one central difference is that instead of an excited young girl happy to give birth to the Messiah, we get the image of a man who is slightly shocked and saddened that his soon to be bride is pregnant. The one centralized focal point, and point of “unity” in the two differing account is when the angel says to Joseph, as when Gabriel said unto Mary, DO NOT BE AFRAID!
Dr. Lawrence V. McCrobie 
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