Into Great Silence

Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

In today’s passage Zechariah recites a canticle that has become known as the Benedictus. It receives its name from the Latin translation of the first word of the canticle, “Blessed”. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel” translates as “Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel”. The canticle is divided into two parts. The first part is thanksgiving for the realization of the prophecies about the Messiah. The second part is an address by Zechariah to his own son and the role he would play in the salvation story. But let us reflect on something else.

There are many stories in Scripture where the blind begin to see and the dumb start to talk, but then we can expect such stories when we have a God who heals. There are, however, also stories where those who see are made blind and those who talk are made dumb. The great apostle Paul was struck blind when he was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians (see Acts 9:1-19). And, of course, we know of Zechariah who was struck dumb when he expressed disbelief at God’s word that he was going to become a father. 

Zechariah presumably became deaf as well because, after John was born, Scripture says, “they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child” (Luke 1:62). So, we have a normal man who suddenly finds he cannot speak or hear. What do you think he went through? His first reaction would, perhaps, be to kick himself for his foolishness. As a priest who was very close to God, he should have known better than to doubt. But I think as time went by, he began to realize that in God’s rebuke was a reward. Unable to speak or hear, he is able to ponder and pray in the silence of his mind, and when he is finally able to speak, his canticle is a fruit of this.

Paul, the Apostle, would also have some experience of this. Struck blind on the road to Damascus, he too would have had time to ponder his folly as well as realize his dramatic introduction to Jesus was not without reason. When he recovered his sight he went into self-imposed exile for three years to find out more about this reason. He returned in great strength and power. So, silence might be a good thing. However, we don’t need to be struck blind, or deaf, or dumb to go into silence; we can voluntarily choose to silence the world from time to time. Making a silent retreat is a wonderful way of doing this.

And, then, who knows what we might do. 

Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/Drk2gQ2FVD4