Daily Reflection Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist

One of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard is the Canticle of Zechariah it can be found in Luke chapter 1 verse 67. I was introduced to this prayer when my husband was in Deaconate formation. Part of his formation was learning how to pray the Office of the Hours. The Office consists of a series of prayers prayed at certain times throughout the day. Morning prayer became a ritual we do together and that is where the Canticle of Zechariah can be found.

Zechariah starts by praising God, speaking about the savior, and reminding us of God's covenant and mercy. He then talks about his son, John ‘you my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.’  John certainly did that right up to his death. Today’s gospel tells us even Herod liked to listen to him. John was a great evangelist.  The final verse of the prayer is beautiful. It is ‘in the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Every day that we wake up in God’s tender compassion, with a new dawn shining on us, we have an opportunity to bring that compassion and peace to those around us. This is what we are called to do, what we were baptized to do. In every generation for over two thousand years Jesus is calling us. He is calling us to bring the good news to others. We may not all be great orators like St. John, but we can all be good examples by our actions.



We can show the tender compassion of our God to others when we listen without judgement, when we forgive or ask for forgiveness, when we help the less fortunate or notice those the rest of society ignores. In doing this we are walking in the way of peace but more importantly we are sharing that peace, Jesus’ peace.