But the angel said to him: " Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son, whom you shall call by the name John.
Eight days after the birth of the child, when it was time to circumcise him, he received the name Jesus--the name given him by the angel before his conception.
And they said to the woman: "It is no longer because of what you say that we believe in him, for we have heard him ourselves and know that he really is the Savior of the world."
For he gave himself on our behalf, to deliver us from all wickedness, and to purify for himself a People who should be peculiarly his own and eager to do good.
But, if our lives are lived in the Light, as God himself is in the Light, we have communion with one another, and the Blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
'My Lord,' I answered, 'it is you who know.' 'These,' he said, 'are they who come through the Great Persecution; they washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.