The Solemnity of the Birthday of St. John the Baptist, Monday, June 24, 2024

Luke 1, 57–66, 80

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.

“When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son.”  Such great esteem fills the Holy Church for St. John the Baptist that she celebrates the day of his birth on earth as well as the day of his birth into eternal life.  As the promised Forerunner, he prepared the Chosen People for the coming of their Messiah, doing so by the example of his penitential life and by his conferred of the sign of the Baptism that Christ himself would fulfill and command.  John and his mother also present to us models of the humility necessary for those who believe, for just as Elizabeth said to Mary, at the time of her Visitation, “Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?”, so her son, John the Baptist, spoke to Jesus, “I ought to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me.”  Such should be our attitude when we approach the sacraments, for, in them, Christ comes to us.

We see John’s  humility again when his disciples point out to him that many who had followed him had begun to follow Jesus.  John replied, “The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase: but I must decrease” (John 3, 29-30).  John never forgets that his mission is not about himself but about the Lord Jesus.  Likewise, our missions here on earth are not about ourselves but about the Lord, and as we grow in faith and virtue, he becomes more evident in us.  This is also true regarding our will: the holier we become, the more nearly conformed with the will of God our own will becomes, and the less inclined we become in seeking anything that is not of God.

The importance of John the Baptist to the earliest Christians — and a sign of how significant he should be to us — is the amount of space in the Gospels given to him.  We are told more about him than about any of the Apostles.  In fact, we are told more about him than about the Lord’s Virgin Mother.  We are even given details concerning what he wore and ate.  

In this time when the true followers of the Lord are under pressure to conform themselves to the world, we look to St. John the Baptist who conformed himself only to the word he heard from God, opposing the world, and awaiting the Christ.