John
appears as the boundary between the two testaments, the old and the
new. That he is a sort of boundary the Lord himself bears witness,
when he speaks of “the law and the prophets up until John the
Baptist.” Thus he represents times past and is the herald of the
new era to come. As a representative of the past, he is born of aged
parents; as a herald of the new era, he is declared to be a prophet
while still in his mother’s womb. For when yet unborn, he leapt in
his mother’s womb at the arrival of blessed Mary. In that womb he
had already been designated a prophet, even before he was born; it
was revealed that he was to be Christ’s precursor, before they ever
saw one another. These are divine happenings, going beyond the limits
of our human frailty.
--
Saint Augustine of Hippo on the birth of John the Baptist
