Homily for December 19, 2019

In George Bernard Shaw’s play Saint Joan, a young farm girl wears down the Dauphin, France’s ruler in exile, with her claims that the voices from heaven have sent her to restore the young ruler to the throne of France. At one point, the exasperated Dauphin cries, “Oh, your voices, your voices! Why don’t the voices come to me? I am king, not you!”

Joan replies, “They do come to you, but you do not hear them. You have not sat in the evening listening to them. When the Angelus [bell] rings you cross yourself and [you are] done with it; but if you prayed from your heart and listened to the trilling of the bells in the air after they stopped ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.”

In many of the Gospel readings of Advent, the “voice” of God speaks to individuals – through the appearance of angels or in dreams. Today we hear the story of Zechariah’s vision, his hearing the “voice” of God as he went about his duties as a priest in the temple. But the poor man was overwhelmed: All too aware of his own weaknesses and doubts and the reality of his age and position, he could not grasp the “good news” that God was calling him to embrace. But in God’s good time, Zechariah came to understand and accept the wonderful possibilities God laid before him and his beloved Elizabeth.

The voice of God speaks to each one of us, as well. What is required of us, as the young Joan understood, is an open heart to listen and to imagine the possibilities for God’s light to illuminate our lives and transform our spirits.+