Since Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament, the people of God endured 400 years of spiritual darkness. 400 years of divine silence. But Malachi himself prophesied in hope that one day the sun of righteousness shall rise and God would visit his people again. 400 years later, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, recognized, in the birth of his son, a glimmer of light before the messianic dawn. In Christ Jesus, the morning sun has risen and now radiates the resplendent mercy of the Lord's salvation.