Lord is with you!"

Mary was surprised at the angel's words, and wondered what they could
mean. Then the angel spoke again, and said: "Do not be afraid, Mary. The
Lord has given to you his favor, and has chosen you to be the mother of
a son whose name shall be Jesus, which means 'salvation,' because he
shall save his people from their sins. He shall be great, and shall be
called the Son of God; and the Lord shall give to him the throne of his
father David. He shall be a king, and shall reign over the people of
God forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."

But Mary could not see how all this was to come to pass. And the angel
said to her:

"The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High God
shall be over you; and the child which you shall have shall be called
holy, the Son of God."

Then the angel told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth was soon to have a
child, through the power of the Lord. And when Mary heard all this, she
said: "I am the servant of the Lord, to do his will. Let it be to me as
you have said."

When the angel had given his message and had gone away, Mary rose up in
haste and made a journey to the home of Zacharias and Elizabeth. When
Elizabeth saw Mary, she was filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and
said:

"Blessed are you among women, and blessed among men shall be your son!
And why is it that the mother of my Lord comes to visit me? Blessed is
the woman who believed that the promise of the Lord to her shall be made
true!"

Then Mary was filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and broke out into a
song of praise. She stayed with Elizabeth for nearly three months, and
then went again to her own home at Nazareth.

As the angel had said, to the aged woman Elizabeth was given a son.
They were going to name him Zacharias, after his father. But his mother
said: "No, his name shall be John."

"Why," they said, "none of your family have ever been named John!"

They asked his father Zacharias, by signs, what name he wished to be
given to the child. He asked for something to write upon; and when they
brought it, he wrote, "His name is John." Then all at once, the power to
hear and to speak came back to Zacharias. He spoke, praising and
blessing God; and he sang a song of thanks to God, in which he said:

"You O child, shall be called a prophet of the Most High; to go before
the Lord, and to make ready his ways."

When John was growing up, they sent him out into the desert