The Nativity of St John the Baptist – moments of true joy before trials
What are we to learn from the Gospel account of the birth of St John the Baptist, whom Our Lord Jesus Christ called the greatest prophet among men?
From
The Nine Months: The Life of Our Lord in the Womb
Fr Henry James Coleridge
The silence of the Gospels
The Gospel narrative tells us nothing more about the Visitation of our Blessed Lady than that she remained at her cousin's house about three months, and then returned to Nazareth.
We must accustom ourselves to these silences in the sacred history, wherein weeks and months and years, about which there must have been so much to tell, about which we shall perhaps have so much knowledge and instruction in the kingdom of our Lord hereafter, are passed over with hardly a word. It is not the object of the Evangelists to give us anything like a complete history. They have been guided to select for us just what it is necessary for us to know, just what it was fitting they should tell when they wrote.
And it is very likely indeed, as may be seen by the treatment of the Divine truths and events which have been revealed to us, that if more had been told us, the world would have raged still more furiously against the revelation than it has. These three months, during which the visit of our Lady certainly lasted, must have been a time of wonderful repose, prayer, spiritual profit, close intercourse with God.
Our Lord was present in the womb of His Blessed Mother in the house of Zachary, and His presence was known and honoured, both by the Blessed Mother herself, and by her hosts. For it is hard to suppose that St. Zachary did not share the Divine knowledge with his wife and his child.
The presence of Our Lady
The presence of our Lord with His Blessed Mother meant a perpetual stream of fresh graces and holiest inspirations to her soul. It meant a continual homage of affections of the most tender love and gratitude on her part to Him.
We have seen what it effected in the souls of St. John and St. Elisabeth at the first moment when it began, and we shall see immediately its effects on the soul of St. Zachary himself.
It is impossible to suppose that what had so great an effect when it began, and when it was coming or had come to an end, was not equally productive of holy results, in the way of enlightenment and sanctification, during the whole period during which it lasted.
Whether St. Joseph was present or not we are not informed. But we must be on our guard, as has been pointed out, against drawing any conclusion from the mere silence of the narrative. In any case, the period of these three months was a time of immense and most rapid spiritual growth, though, like many such times in the history of souls, it was outwardly a period unmarked by any great events which could attract attention.
Her return…
"And Mary abode with her about three months, and she returned to her own house."
It has been thought by some of the Christian commentators, that these words, coming as they do in the sacred history before the account which immediately follows them of the Nativity of St. John, imply that the visit of our Blessed Lady came to an end before the time for the birth of the child of St. Elisabeth.
Moreover, some reasons are given by these writers for the departure of our Blessed Lady, before the actual birth of St. John. These reasons are met by others on the part of other authorities, who contend that it would have been most seemly and natural for the visit to have been continued till its natural completion, after the birth of the forerunner of our Lord.
In truth, Holy Scripture is silent on this point also, and the reasons on one side or on the other, may have been set aside, in the actual course of events, by some decree of the wisdom of God of which we are ignorant.
… was probably after the birth of St John
But it seems, on grounds of criticism, unsafe to argue peremptorily from the words which have just been quoted that our Blessed Lady was not present at the birth of St. John.
It is evident that the narrative is cast in the form which it now bears for the sake of keeping more distinct the two mysteries, the mystery of the Visitation properly so called — that is, of the beginning of the sojourn of our Lady with her cousin, and the marvellous incidents by which her first salutation was followed — and the other mystery of the birth of St. John, and the marvellous incidents by which that birth, in its turn, was illustrated.
It is not at all unlikely that we have here an instance of what is common in the formation of the Gospels, though it is not always so manifest on the face of the narrative. The narrative, as we possess it, is made up of separate short documents, originally distinct, each of which relates the incidents or the sayings of some one mystery, or miracle, or discourse, or anecdote, and each of which therefore, either begins or ends with some few words by way of showing that the particular subject is opened or closed.
Then there follows, in the text as we have it, the beginning of another and entirely distinct narrative, opening perhaps with some words which, if taken as in connection with what has been immediately prefixed in the arrangement, might mislead the reader as to the order of the events in point of historical sequence. The Gospel of St. Matthew is full of such pitfalls for the unwary critic.
The Church’s order
In the present case we have the arrangement of the Church, which keeps the feast of the Visitation on the day after the octave of the Nativity of St. John, as a kind of guide to us, and this at all events sanctions the opinion that our Lady was present at the Nativity itself.
For if there had not been some tradition about the Visitation, which authorised the belief that she was present, as has been said, when St. John was born, it is not likely that the direct words of St. Luke would have been forgotten, which seem to say that she left her cousin before that time.
If there had been no such reason for the present order in the calendar, the Visitation would naturally have been celebrated before the Nativity of the Baptist. We therefore may conclude that there was some early tradition on the subject, by which the arrangement of the Calendar was settled in seeming discrepancy from the Gospel narrative.
The birth of St John
“Now Elisabeth's full time of being delivered was come, and she brought forth a son. And her neighbours and her kinsfolk heard that the Lord had showed His great mercy towards her, and they congratulated with her."
The fact of the birth of a child at the natural time was nothing that could create wonder, but we are not told that St. Elisabeth had made her state of pregnancy known before the time came for her to become a mother indeed. It is said in the Gospel narrative that she hid herself for five months after her conception.
The number of the months is clearly given by St. Luke in connection with the Annunciation of our Lady, for he goes on to say that in the sixth month the Angel was sent to her. It is not therefore certain that St. Luke means us to understand that St. Elisabeth did not keep her holy secret after the five months had expired.
But, in any case, the birth of a son was what had been predicted by the Angel to her husband, and this may well have been taken as a fresh confirmation of the truth of the words of St. Gabriel, a large part of which refer to what was still future, the work and office of this blessed child.
The birth of a son was always considered a matter for special congratulation, and we find that Anna, the mother of Samuel, had made this particular petition to God that He would grant her a man child. Thus the congratulations of the neighbours and kinsfolk may have been offered, both for the marvellous favour of her being a mother at an age so advanced, and also for the particular gift of the child who might grow up at least to be like his father, the minister at the altar of God.
This supposes that they knew nothing, as yet, of the miraculous vision of his father before his conception.
His circumcision
"And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him by the name of his father Zachary."
The rite of circumcision, as it seems, was performed wherever it might be convenient, and not necessarily in the synagogue or in the Temple. There must have been some point in the ceremony at which it was the custom to give the name of the child.
This it seems to have been properly the office of the father to do. But St. Zachary was still under the affliction which had befallen him as the punishment for his incredulity, and thus the office was undertaken by some other person of his own family.
When the text says that they called him by his father's name Zachary, it is meant that they were going so to do, and perhaps the word had been pronounced, when St. Elisabeth interrupted the speaker, saying that her child was to be called John, meaning the grace or mercy of God.
She may have learnt this from her husband, notwithstanding his affliction, for it is natural to suppose that they had used some of the ordinary means of communication in such cases of infirmity. But it may be that she knew this also by Divine revelation.
The name John was not uncommon among the Jews, and there could be no objection to it on ordinary grounds. These people seem to have thought that the child should be named after some of the family.
"And they said to her, there is none of thy kindred that is called by this name."
The objection seems to have been divinely prompted, in order that it might give the required occasion for the appeal to the father of the child.
"And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And demanding a table book, he wrote saying, John is his name. And they all wondered."
They must have wondered at the entire agreement between St. Elisabeth and her husband, for the name may not have been a matter of great ordinary importance, and in such cases, there would not have been any reason for the parents to have consulted or agreed together.
St Zachary recovers his speech
But a still greater marvel was immediately to take place. All were aware of the infirmity which afflicted the holy father of the child, and indeed, it had been brought prominently before the minds of all by the discussion about the name of the child.
They were therefore prepared to receive with great astonishment the sudden and complete restoration of the gift of speech to St. Zachary. This was what now took place.
"And immediately his mouth was opened, and his tongue was loosed, and he spoke, blessing God."
The crown was thus put to the joy of this holy pair, and at the same time a providential preparation was made for the discharge by St. John of his future office, for which it was requisite or convenient that those who knew him should look on him as one whose whole history had been marked by God in a way that promised great things concerning him.
From his very birth he was thus a remarkable child, even if the full use of his reason, and the other unusual gifts which had been bestowed upon him while yet in the womb, remained a secret from the generality of men. There was something prodigious about his conception, as was evident from the great age of his mother, there was something of a Divine purpose in his coming into the world, as was evident from the circumstances which had occurred about his name, and there was also the wonder of the sudden recovery of his father from the affliction which had been so many months upon him.
These things would be enough to attract attention, and to account for the general opinion formed of his lofty destiny.
Spread of the wonder
"And fear came upon all their neighbours, and all these words were divulged," that is, spread abroad, "over all the mountainous country of Judea."
The city in which St. Zachary dwelt was on the hills, which form a considerable part of the inheritance of the tribe of Juda, and give to its products a different type from that which prevails in Galilee. In such a country report would easily fly from town to town, and the general impression would remain in the common mind, ready to meet the Baptist when the time came for what St. Luke afterwards calls his manifestation to Israel.
"And all they who had heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, What an one think ye, shall this child be? For the hand of the Lord was upon him."
These last words seem to signify that there may have been other marvellous points about the childhood of St. John, of which we have no direct mention in the Gospel history.
The joyousness of these mysteries
The joy of the neighbours of St. Zachary and St. Elisabeth at the birth of their blessed son, and also at the marvellous recovery of the aged priest from the affliction which had been so long upon him, is a feature in the history which is entirely in keeping with the whole character of this part of the Gospel narrative.
The Annunciation and Visitation are, as far as possible, mysteries of pure joy. We apply the name "joyous" to other parts of the Holy Infancy, such as the Nativity itself, the Purification, and the Finding in the temple of the Holy Child. But in all these three mysteries there is something of the shadow, indeed, of more than the shadow, of the Cross, and other portions of the history are more distinctly marked with the brand of suffering.
There is suffering in the Nativity, suffering in the Circumcision. The Purification includes the first formal announcement of the future Cross made by St. Simeon to our Blessed Lady, as if it were a part of the Providence of God that this prediction should be made by one of His most authoritative ministers in the very temple itself.
It is needless to point out how the joy of the Epiphany is dashed with the first fulfilment of the prophecy of Simeon in the massacre of the Innocents and the flight into Egypt.
After the Purification, when the soul of our Blessed Lady was already pierced by the sword which was never thenceforth to be absent from her thoughts, there is no incident in the story which has not its share of this element of suffering. But it is not to be found in the Annunciation and in the Visitation.
It is as if the good Providence of God had chosen to give to our Blessed Lady at least these three months of unmixed joy, such, almost, as might have been her lot, if she had actually become the mother of the Incarnate God under a dispensation which did not require the Atonement for the sins of mankind.
Fulfilment of the words of St Gabriel – the crown to the mystery
Thus were fulfilled those words of St. Gabriel to St. Zachary, at the time of the vision in the temple of which we have already spoken, that at the birth of St. John many should rejoice.
Perhaps the words of the Evangelist are meant to point out this fulfilment. The whole life and career of St. John were, indeed, full of causes of joy to the whole world, but it seems as if St. Luke had meant us to understand that his birth was, in a special way, a most joyful mystery.
Such an occasion would be incomplete, it might be said, unless there had been the marvellous restoration of St. Zachary to the full use of his faculties at the moment of the naming of his holy child. This was a kind of crown to all the spiritual joys and blessings of the Visitation.
Our Lord often grants to His servants these temporal blessings as a kind of complement to more important gifts which affect the soul. As was said of Him on the occasion of one of His double miracles, "He doeth all things well." The principle of this tender method of Providence is expressed by Him when He says that the children of the Bridechamber must not mourn when the Bridegroom is with them.
The presence of our Lord in the womb of His Blessed Mother had wrought the most wonderful results in the souls of those aged saints and their still more blessed son. It was in a manner right that no element of sorrow should be left unremoved, and that the joyousness of so great a spiritual mystery should spread itself over the whole neighbourhood around the abode in which our Lord had shown, for the first time, His power of scattering blessings on every side.
Spiritual joy
We need not regard the joyfulness of these early mysteries of the Holy Infancy, simply as a gleam of sunshine, vouchsafed for the purpose of gladdening the hearts of our Lady and the saints with whom her time was spent.
For the effects of spiritual joy, especially on the most saintly souls, are very great indeed. Joy enlightens, and enlarges, and fortifies, and enriches, in a marvellous manner and degree.
Our Blessed Lady was already consummate in all perfection of virtue, and yet it may have been the Will of God that she should have this season of intense and unalloyed rejoicing immediately after the accomplishment of the Incarnation, in order that she might grow ever more mightily and swiftly in grace, and He may have had the same purpose with regard to the souls of St. John and of his parents.
The discipline of sorrow and suffering may be necessary or convenient for the purpose of bracing and strengthening the souls who are subjected thereto. But God ripens and matures and expands the spiritual energies by other influences as well as those of sorrow, and, indeed, His method of training them to their highest beauty and perfection is usually an alternation of pain and joy.
Few souls may be fit for the most intense and continual joy, which yet may be the most profitable of all the measures of grace to those who are already the furthest advanced in perfect union with Him Whose life is essentially joy, unceasing, unalloyed, unalterable, and ineffable in its brightness.
The Benedictus
It is only natural to find that this glorious and most happy mystery of the Visitation should have its canticle of joy and thanksgiving. It gave occasion, as we have seen, to the Canticle of our Blessed Lady herself, which is the foundation of all the New Testament songs of joy.
But that Canticle was uttered at the very beginning of the three months of our Lady's sojourn with her cousin, and expressed most directly the affections of her heart as to the great mystery itself of the Incarnation. It dwelt chiefly on what we may call the heavenly part of the mystery, the casting down of the proud rebels against God from their thrones and the elevation of man in their place by virtue of the humiliation of the Son of God.
The earthly issues of the Incarnation are summed up very shortly in the Magnificat, as if our Blessed Lady had been divinely guided simply to suggest them, and then leave them for future celebration by the blessed father of the Baptist. This is the chief distinction between these two great Canticles, as we shall presently see.
The Benedictus grows out of the Magnificat, singing the praises of God more especially for the fruits of the Incarnation as unfolded in this life, here and now, in this lower world, before those who reap its benefits pass to the vacant thrones in heaven. If our Blessed Lady gives thanks to God for His gifts through our Lord which are eternal, St. Zachary has the commission of thanking Him for those fruits of our Lord's condescension which accompany and encompass us in the pilgrimage on earth, from our cradle to our grave.
Thus the Church has chosen this as the last song of thanksgiving which she sings over the grave of her children, before it finally closes over them, both because no words can sum up more perfectly the gratitude which we owe to God for the earthly privileges of the Christian life, and because the thoughts which these words suggest are so full of the tenderest consolation to the mourners who have, then and there, to leave those whom they have loved until the day of that last meeting which is to know no separation.
From Fr Henry James Coleridge, The Nine Months: The Life of Our Lord in the Womb
Further Reading
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