The Nativity of John the Baptist

Ish 49:1-6, Acts 13:22-26, Lk. 1:57-66.80. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of St John the Baptist. John the Baptist is one of the special saints of the Church, because of the important role he played as herald of the coming of the Messiah. It was about him that the prophets spoke about that he had been called to be God’s servant from his mother’s womb. In today's Gospel, the Angel spoke to Zechariah, of how his son would become a great and dedicated servant of God, the last of the prophets and messengers of God. John forms a kind of connection between the Old and New Testaments. At the conception of John, Zachariah lost his voice, until John was born. The silence of Zachariah means that all the Old Testament prophecies were somehow concealed and shut up, before the proclamation of Christ. The tongue is released because a voice is being born: "I am the voice of one crying in the desert."

John is the voice, but the Lord in the beginning was the Word. John is a voice for a time, but Christ is the eternal Word from the beginning. The joy of John’s birthday is connected to the meaning of his name in Hebrew: "Yeho-hanan", which means “the Lord is gracious." In sending John the Baptist, God had shown great favour, not just to Zechariah and Elizabeth, but to the whole of humanity. Before the Baptist came on the scene, the prophetic voice in Israel has been silent for four hundred years. Today we are challenged to recommit ourselves to the Lord, modelling our lives after John the Baptist. So, Let us draw ever closer to God and be more faithful everyday of our lives.

May the Lord bless and empower us to live faithfully according to His will! Amen!! Good morning and have a productive weekend!!!