Reading
Lk 1:57-66
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors 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 neighbors, 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.
Meditation
The greatest comfort we can have from our children is to place them in the hands of God. For this reason circumcision, which has been replaced, in the new covenant, by Christian baptism, becomes an occasion of greater joy than birth itself.
The Jewish custom was to give the child a name on the occasion of the circumcision, just as Abraham received a new name after having sanctioned the covenant with God through this external sign. Indeed, the Lord calls by name those entrusted to him, which means that he is not only generically the God of the people of the saved, but the Father of each one of us, whom we can call him in this way by virtue of the personal and filial relationship that we have with him.
This relationship, inherent in a unique "new name", which is attributed to us is well represented by the dispute between Elizabeth and her friends and relatives who came to attend John's circumcision. They suggest calling him Zecharias, like his father, but moved by the Holy Spirit she firmly affirms that he will be called John.
By communicating with Zechariah by signs, the neighbors and relatives get the written answer that the child must be called John. Dumb and deaf, Zacharias cannot help but express God's will. When the Spirit speaks he knows how to make himself heard. This is what Jesus will say, when the Pharisees scold the rejoicing crowd upon their entry into Jerusalem: "if these are silent, the stones will cry out" (Lk 19:40).
Once God's will for the child has been accomplished, Zechariah's tongue raise a song of praise. John will arouse astonishment and his fame will spread throughout the surrounding regions from childhood, anticipating what he will get with the beginning of his prophetic ministry, when crowds of sinners come to him in search of conversion. John was expected to become a priest as his father. But God's plans for him were different. He would become a prophet. The greatest of the prophets.
Regardless of whether or not our name is identical to that of another person, none of us must be someone else's "copy". God loves us in our specificity and has a particular plan of salvation and holiness for each of us.
Let's ask God for the grace to learn to be the best version of ourselves, rather than some saint's bad copy.
Prayer
O God, who calls us by name, reveal your will to us and pour out your Spirit upon us, so that we may praise of your name. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
