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Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John

First Century

Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John, First Century

November 5

Elizabeth was Mary’s cousin. She was married to Zechariah. They did not have children. One day an angel appeared to Zechariah when he was praying. The angel told him that he and Elizabeth would have a son named John. Elizabeth and Zechariah were very happy. When John grew up, he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Discuss: How are you filled with the Holy Spirit?

Elizabeth was Mary’s cousin. She was married to Zechariah. They did not have children. One day an angel appeared to Zechariah when he was praying in the Temple. The angel told him that he and Elizabeth would have a son named John. Elizabeth and Zechariah were very happy. When John grew up, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. He told people they had to stop doing bad things and love God. He was known as John the Baptist because he would baptize people in the River Jordan. He baptized Jesus there.

Zechariah was a priest in the Temple at Jerusalem. Elizabeth was known as a very pious woman. They were both very old when they had their son John. Elizabeth is a patron Saint of pregnant women. Saint John the Baptist is often shown as a hermit, sometimes holding a lamb, or carrying a staff that ends in a cross. He is the patron Saint of Puerto Rico and many cities in Europe.

Activity

Build an Angel
Visual/Spatial

Remind the child that an angel visited Zechariah to tell him of John’s coming.

  • Provide the child with a small paper doily, a piece of flesh-colored construction paper, several 12-inch strands of hair-colored yarn, and safety scissors.
  • Have the child trace a circle (bottom of a can, or something of similar size) and cut it out (for the angel’s face).
  • Have them glue the circle at one edge of the doily (for the angel’s halo).
  • Glue the yarn around the top of the circle on the doily (for the angel’s hair).
  • Let the child draw the angel’s facial features on the circle and color the doily gold.
  • Remind the child that an angel brought the message to Zechariah that Saint John the Baptist would be born.