My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may the Lord’s peace be with you. Approaching this beautiful feast and solemnity of the birth of our one and only Jesus, the Lord God Almighty, who descended into our midst, today we are given in the readings some of His precursors, some of those men who were born into the world who had a very special role to play in announcing His birth, in prefiguring the One who would be consecrated to the Father from all eternity.