Cycle A - Year II:  

24 June 2020:  Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Isaiah 49:1-6

Second Reading:   Acts 13:22-26

Gospel Reading:   Please read Luke 1:57-66, 80  

"The Precursor, John the Baptist!"

The Church celebrates on Wednesday, 24 June, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, who is known as the Precursor or Forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ.

By tradition, the Church usually observes the death of a saint as feast day because it marks the saint's entrance into heaven.  However, there are two exceptions to this tradition, one is the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the other that of St, John the Baptist.

Now, there is a dogmatic justification for this exception.  The reason is this:  all other persons were stained with original sin at birth.  Let us explain that.

For Mama Mary, she was free from original sin from the first moment of her existence.  That is why even her very conception is commemorated by a special feast on December 8.

In the case of John the Baptist, he was cleared from original sin while yet in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth, at the moment when the Blessed Virgin Mary, pregnant at that time with our Lord Jesus Christ, visited John's mother Elizabeth.

Also, the birth of John the Baptist is important because John paves the way for the coming of the Savior to the world.  In other words, today's feast anticipates the feast of Christmas.

Who is John the Baptist?

Historically, John was the son of Zechariah, a priest in the Temple of Jerusalem, and Elizabeth, a kinswoman of Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.  John was born of a sterile woman in her old age.

In the Bible, Luke tells us of the birth of John the Baptist in a town of Judaea about six months before the birth of the Savior.  But the New Testament tells us nothing about John's early years.

But we are given the story of the ministry of John the Baptist, with some variation of details, in the three synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as well as in the Gospel of John the Evangelist.

When John the Baptist was probably in his thirty-second year, he withdrew into the harsh, rocky desert beyond the Jordan to fast and pray, as was the custom of holy men.  We are told that John kept himself alive by eating locust, and wild honey and wore a rough garment of camel's hair, tied with a leather girdle.

John the Baptist lived as a hermit in the desert of Judaea until about 27 AD.  When his time came, he began to preach on the banks of the Jordan against the evils of the times and called men to penance and baptism, proclaiming that "the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand!"  He attracted large crowd, and when our Lord Jesus Christ came to him, John recognized Him as the Messiah and baptized Him, as our Lord wishes, and saying to our Lord Jesus "It is I who need baptism from You."  John began to announce the coming of the Kingdom, and to call everyone to a fundamental reformation of life.  His purpose was to prepare the way of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lord Jesus called John the Baptist as the greatest of all those who has preceded him: "I tell you, among those born of a woman, no one is greater than John." (Lk 7:28)  But John's attitude toward our Lord Jesus was: "He must increase; I must decrease." (Jn 3:30)

Now, John's role in salvation history is relevant even in our time today.  For we, too, are born to testify to the Light, and respond to the challenge to prepare a people fit for the Lord.  Because the vocation of each person of any age and at all time, is something like John's  -- to announce the love of God in word and deed among all peoples!

John the Baptist is the Patron of my birth place, Tabaco City in Albay Province.  So today is also their town fiesta.  Happy Fiesta sa gabos!

Ad Jesum per Mariam!