17 December 2026 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“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.” Luke 1:78–79
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah sings: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.” He sees God's ancient promises, to David, to Abraham, being fulfilled. Then he turns to his child: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High.” The song ends with an image of dawn: “the dawn from on high will break upon us.”
Paul tells the Galatians: “As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ… you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.” The promises Zechariah sang about are ours through baptism. The Church sings his Benedictus every morning at dawn.
Theme: “The dawn from on high.”
Zechariah's Benedictus and our baptismal inheritance.
“Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.” 2 Samuel 7:16
“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.” Luke 1:68–69
Apply: Pray the Benedictus each morning.
“See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me.” Malachi 3:1
“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.” Luke 1:76–77
Apply: Go to confession before Christmas.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.” Isaiah 9:2
“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.” Luke 1:78–79
Apply: Make peace with one person before Christmas.
God has visited his people.
Let the dawn of Christ shine on us.
Take-home resolution: Pray the Benedictus at sunrise until Christmas.
Dear friends, St Paul tells the Galatians: in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith; as many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ (Galatians 3:26–27). Baptism is like putting on new clothes: Christ himself.
Then he says something revolutionary for his time: there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). In Christ the walls fall: caste, class, nationality, wealth. In Kerala, where divisions of caste and community have run deep, even in the Church, this word challenges us.
In the Gospel Zechariah, his tongue freed, sings the Benedictus: blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them (Luke 1:68). The man who was silent for nine months now sings the history of salvation.
He sings of the oath sworn to Abraham, of deliverance from our enemies, so that we might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness all our days (Luke 1:73–75). Salvation frees us to serve without fear.
Then he turns to his tiny son: and you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways. And he ends with the dawn: 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 (Luke 1:76–79).
Christmas is near: the dawn from on high. Let us pray the Benedictus each morning this week, perhaps as a family. And let us ask: whom do I treat as less than a child of God? In Christ, all are one. Amen.
Children, Zechariah sang a beautiful song when John was born. Sing a song of thanks to God today!
Blessed are you, Lord God of Israel, for you have visited and redeemed your people. Let the dawn from on high shine on all in darkness and guide our feet into the way of peace. Amen.
Today's Gospel continues directly from last Sunday's, where John was born and named. Zechariah, silent for months, opens his mouth and sings. Paul's few verses to the Galatians tell us what the song has come to mean for us: all those clothed with Christ have become the heirs of the promise made to Abraham. God has remembered his promise, and now it reaches everyone.
Setting.
Paul is writing to Gentile Christians in Galatia who were being told that they had to accept circumcision and the Law of Moses to be true children of Abraham. Chapter 3 is his answer: the promise to Abraham came before the Law, and it is fulfilled in Christ. Today's verses are the high point. Many scholars think v. 28 echoes words already used at baptisms in the early Church.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (3:27)
Paul does not offer an idea here, but points to something that has happened to them, in water, on a day they can remember.
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (3:28)
Paul does not mean that these differences have disappeared. He still writes as a Jew, and to men and women. He means that none of them gives anyone a better place before God. The phrase "male and female" is the wording of Genesis 1:27.
“And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (3:29)
Gentile Christians are brought into the promise made to Israel, and they do not take it away from Israel. Compare the olive tree in Romans 11:17–18.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the baptized have "put on Christ" (CCC 1227), and that the white garment of baptism is the sign of it (CCC 1243). The Second Vatican Council draws the conclusion from this verse: in Christ and in the Church there is no inequality on the basis of race or nationality, social condition or sex (Lumen Gentium 32).
Setting.
In the Temple, Zechariah did not believe the angel and was struck dumb (1:20). When he writes the name "John" at the child's circumcision, his tongue is freed (1:63–64). Luke says he was "filled with the Holy Spirit". The first words of the old priest, after his silence, are not a complaint or an explanation but a blessing of God. The song is full of the language of the Psalms and the prophets.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.” (1:68)
The verbs are in the past tense, although Jesus is not yet born. For the prophet, what God has begun is as good as done. Names are at work too: Zechariah means "the Lord has remembered", and the song is about God remembering (v. 72).
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,” (1:76)
An old man speaks to an eight-day-old baby. The child is great, but only as one who goes ahead. The song is not finally about John; it soon moves past him to the dawn.
“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.” (1:78–79)
The picture comes from Isaiah 9:2. The last word of the song is "peace", which is also what the angels will sing at the birth of Christ (Luke 2:14). "Tender mercy" is, literally, mercy felt in the depths of one's being.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism sees John as the last of the prophets and the one who goes before the Lord in the Spirit (CCC 523, 717–719). The Latin Church sings this canticle at Morning Prayer every day, as the sun comes up. For us it is a good prayer of the last days before the feast of the Lord's birth.