In this episode there is one circumstance that appears strange if ethnographic details are taken into account. The point is that among Jews a son can receive his father's name only if the father died during the mother's pregnancy. It is hard to say when this custom arose, but if it already existed by the time of John's birth, then the position of Zechariah, who was forced for a long time to remain silent, looks tragic: he is not taken into account; he is equated with the dead. The neighbors and relatives, rejoicing at the infant's birth and proposing to name him Zechariah, are in essence disposing of things in a house that is not theirs.

But Zechariah, despite the humiliations he endured, kept faithfulness to God. We hear his inspired speech, containing prophecy, and the evangelist notes that he spoke under the action of the Holy Spirit. But in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah had to pass patiently through the trial of rejection.

On the day of the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Church offers us readings that tell of the relationship between God and His chosen people. And although John is first mentioned only in the New Testament, he has the most direct connection with all the preceding history of Israel. Sometimes he is spoken of as the last prophet of the Old Testament, and this is truly so. Being the son of one of the priests of the Jerusalem Temple, he became heir to all the piety of the Old Testament, and not only by origin. He experienced an encounter with the Lord even before his birth into the world, and the Lord called him "from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel might be gathered to Him" (Isa. 49:5).

John continued to carry out his service to God, calling people to repentance, even after the beginning of Christ's preaching. But by his actions he "fulfilled," that is, brought to fullness, what the whole people of Israel had been called to do during the Old Testament period: to live before God and bear witness to the world about the coming Savior. He shows the fullest possible holiness for God's people: the closest possible approach to God by human strength. But as the Lord Himself said, "among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he" (Matt. 11:11), because our efforts alone are not enough. And the Lord wants us to make efforts, to try as much as possible to draw near to Him, and He will fill up the rest by coming to us.

Today's Gospel passage can serve as a beautiful illustration of what the Church is, what a community of believers in Christ is. At its center is its Head - Christ Himself. Beside Him the apostles labor - the foundation of the future hierarchy of the Church. They help people by easing and ordering the transmission of God's gift to everyone in need. And nowhere is it said that they also eat; they must also have taken part in this meal, but first of all they are here for service - to help both Christ and the people. And there are thousands of people around Him, all of them hungry in one way or another, all of them needing something from Him.

Of course, Christ can satisfy their hunger "out of nothing." He, God who created heaven and earth, has absolutely no need of our loaves and fish, for He has more of them than we do. And yet He uses them in order to give us what we so deeply desire. He takes what each of us has, and thanks to Him it turns out that our common wealth is far greater than simply everything taken together. God is always ready to work a miracle for us, but we are not always ready to receive it. And He waits for our first step from us - even if it is small, still participation in the work of our salvation: consent.