Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (1: 67-79) in which Zechariah praises God saying ‘Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, for he has visited his people and come to their rescue’ and, of John, says ‘you shall be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way for him’.

Fr Paul says the significance of Zechariah’s prophecy can be seen in any Bible which has footnotes because at this point the footnotes become full of cross-references to the Psalms, and the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Malachi. This is exactly what one would expect from a culture, and a man, completely saturated with the longing of man for God and for the promises of God to man. There comes a time when one is so filled with the words of the Psalms and prophets that whenever one opens one’s mouth every word that comes out is a recapitulation of them, if not an actual quotation.

If Mary’s Magnificat can almost count as an extra Psalm, Zechariah’s Benedictus can be seen as very nearly the final prophecy of the Old Testament, heralding the birth of John, the last and greatest of the prophets.

In closing, Fr Paul takes the opportunity to wish everyone a happy and holy Christmas.