Yet another reason to pray the Breviary

You get to pray the Benedictus, where Zechariah's lips are opened after nine months of silence and a beautiful prayer of praise and thanksgiving pour forth at the birth of his son on the very day the Church celebrates that very John the Baptist's beheading. It is impossible to miss the amazing and simultaneous contrast and coherence between the two events. To then pray, "[y]ou my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you shall go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins" and to contemplate how that prophetic work, and indeed how nearly all of the prophets met their end, is simply sublime. If you haven't started to pray the Breviary, now is a beautiful time to start.