From the very beginning, it is clear, that St. John was destined for great things, and the fact that we are celebrating his birth on a Sunday testifies to the fact of his great importance in Jesus’ life, the life of the Church, and our own lives as well.
He stands as one of the greatest models the Church has given us to show us what it means to be an Apostle. In fact, people were drawn to him, baptized by him, and followers of him, but he never saw it as a rise in fame, but, rather, always as a new opportunity to point to the one who is to come. In fact, he said himself: “What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.”
And, yet, all of this was evident before he was even born, before he even stepped foot into this world. For, while in the womb, he leaped for joy upon Mary’s visitation, pointing and filling his own mother, St. Elizabeth with grace and showing the importance of the one who, indeed, dwelt in Mary’s womb.
And, even when he was about to be born and they needed a name, rather than being named after his father, which was the custom, he was set apart by being named John, which in Hebrew means “The Lord shows favor.”
That is why all were so amazed that not only his father had known this was to be his name but that they had chosen a name that was uncommon in his family. So that they all asked the same question: “What, then, will this child be?”
For, this child was to be and has been one of the loudest, most profound and incredibly powerful voices the world has ever known, because, ultimately, St. John’s greatest legacy was, simply, as a voice, a herald, one who points away from himself and points directly to Christ. Almost, in a sense, a male equivalent to what Mary, herself did, pointing always away from herself to the one who is to come and has come.
Yet, believe it or not, all of us, from the very beginning, were similarly called, given a vocation which God has asked us to fulfill, and from the very beginning, as our first reading reminds, He did so because He knew us, but not only knew us, called us and, in the very womb, named us and by our Baptism enabled us to became one of His own.
The day we entered this world, the day we took our first breath, God already had a plan for us, He had already called us and given us a task set forth by Him, knowing that that vocation is what would lead us back to Him. So that no matter what we do if we live to fulfill His Will we become as St. John a herald, a voice that loudly proclaims who God is and what He can do if we allow Him to enter and fill our lives.
For St. John shows us what is possible that, in fact, all things are possible when we empty ourselves, place all our trust in God, and, as St. John says elsewhere allow it so that: “He must increase and I must decrease.” For, by doing so, we truly become a light to the nations, bringing, in the end, His salvation and His hope to the ends of the world.
St. John the Baptist herald of Christ and evangelizer of souls, pray for us.
He stands as one of the greatest models the Church has given us to show us what it means to be an Apostle. In fact, people were drawn to him, baptized by him, and followers of him, but he never saw it as a rise in fame, but, rather, always as a new opportunity to point to the one who is to come. In fact, he said himself: “What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.”
And, yet, all of this was evident before he was even born, before he even stepped foot into this world. For, while in the womb, he leaped for joy upon Mary’s visitation, pointing and filling his own mother, St. Elizabeth with grace and showing the importance of the one who, indeed, dwelt in Mary’s womb.
And, even when he was about to be born and they needed a name, rather than being named after his father, which was the custom, he was set apart by being named John, which in Hebrew means “The Lord shows favor.”
That is why all were so amazed that not only his father had known this was to be his name but that they had chosen a name that was uncommon in his family. So that they all asked the same question: “What, then, will this child be?”
For, this child was to be and has been one of the loudest, most profound and incredibly powerful voices the world has ever known, because, ultimately, St. John’s greatest legacy was, simply, as a voice, a herald, one who points away from himself and points directly to Christ. Almost, in a sense, a male equivalent to what Mary, herself did, pointing always away from herself to the one who is to come and has come.
Yet, believe it or not, all of us, from the very beginning, were similarly called, given a vocation which God has asked us to fulfill, and from the very beginning, as our first reading reminds, He did so because He knew us, but not only knew us, called us and, in the very womb, named us and by our Baptism enabled us to became one of His own.
The day we entered this world, the day we took our first breath, God already had a plan for us, He had already called us and given us a task set forth by Him, knowing that that vocation is what would lead us back to Him. So that no matter what we do if we live to fulfill His Will we become as St. John a herald, a voice that loudly proclaims who God is and what He can do if we allow Him to enter and fill our lives.
For St. John shows us what is possible that, in fact, all things are possible when we empty ourselves, place all our trust in God, and, as St. John says elsewhere allow it so that: “He must increase and I must decrease.” For, by doing so, we truly become a light to the nations, bringing, in the end, His salvation and His hope to the ends of the world.
St. John the Baptist herald of Christ and evangelizer of souls, pray for us.
