Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health Vailankanni

Voice and word are not the same thing where we are concerned since a voice can be heard without it conveying any meaning, without words, and the word can likewise be communicated to our minds without a voice, as in the wandering of our thoughts. In the same way, since the Saviour is Word..., John differs from him in being voice, by comparison with Christ, who is Word. This is what John himself answered to those who asked him who he was: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths'” (Lk 3:4; Jn 1:23).
Perhaps this is the reason - because he doubted the birth of the voice that would reveal the Word of God - why Zachariah lost his voice but recovered it again when that voice was born who is the Word's forerunner (Lk 1:64). Since, for the mind to be able to grasp the word intended by the voice, we must hear the voice. It is also why, according to the time of his birth, John is slightly older than Christ – for we perceive the voice before the word. Thus John points to Christ since it is with the voice that the Word is made known. Likewise, Christ was baptized by John, who admitted his need of being baptized by him (Mt 3:14)... In brief, when John pointed to Christ it was as a man pointing to God, the incorporeal Saviour, as a voice pointing to the Word...

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"You will be speechless... until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words"

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