Zechariah and Elizabeth
Parents of John the Baptist
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: A, B, C | Lectionary Cycle: I, II
Introduction
Today we commemorate Saints Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of Saint John the Baptist. Though not officially on the universal Roman Calendar, Catholic tradition cherishes their memory, drawing from the Gospel of Luke (chapters 1–2), which recounts their faith, patience, and openness to God’s plan. Zechariah, a priest of the Temple, and Elizabeth, a woman advanced in years, were blessed by God with the miraculous birth of John, Christ’s forerunner. Their lives remind us of God’s fidelity to His promises and invite us to trust in His timing with steadfast faith.
Opening Prayer
O God by whose grace Zachary and Elizabeth became the parents of the herald of your son, grant to us through their intercession the grace to love you above all things and so to inherit what you have promised. Amen.
First Reading
The Promise of Descendants
If God promised Abraham, or rather his descendants, that the world would belong to him, this was not because of his obeying the law, but because he was just and a friend of God, through faith.
If the promise is now kept only for those who rely on the law, then faith has no power and the promise is no longer effective.
It is proper for the law to impose punishment, and only when there is no law can one live without breaking it.
For that reason, faith is the way, and everything is given by grace; the promises of Abraham are fulfilled for all his descendants, not just his children according to the law, but also for everyone who has believed. Abraham is the father of all of us,
as it is written: I will make you the father of many nations. He is our father in the eyes of Him who gives life to the dead, and calls into existence what does not yet exist, for this is the God in whom he believed.
Abraham believed and hoped despite all odds, thus becoming the father of many nations, as he was told: See how numerous your descendants will be.
He did not doubt, even though his body could no longer give life—he was about a hundred years old—and the dead womb of Sarah.
He did not doubt or distrust God’s promise, and by being strong in faith, he gave glory to God
and was convinced that he who had given the promise had the power to fulfill it.
Therefore, his faith was credited to him as righteousness.
Now the words, it was credited to him, were written not for him alone
but for us too, because we believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,
who was delivered for our sins and raised for our justification.
Gospel
Several people have set out to relate the events that took place among us
as they were told by the first witnesses who later became ministers of the word.
After I, myself, carefully reviewed the whole story from the beginning, it seemed right for me to give you, Theophilus, an orderly account
so that your Excellency may know the truth of all you have been taught.
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah, who was part of the priestly clan of Abijah. Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, also belonged to a priestly family.
Both of them were righteous in God’s eyes and lived blamelessly according to all the laws and commands of the Lord,
but they had no children. Elizabeth was unable to have children, and they were both very old now.