Reflection on The Birth of John the Baptist (June 24, 2007)

This Sunday, we mark the solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist, with a vigil on Saturday evening and the Mass of the day. The Church gives us this solemnity to call to mind the unique role that the Baptist had in the proclamation of Jesus Christ.

From Luke's Gospel, we hear that Zachariah, the father of John, was serving in the temple area when the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that he and his wife Elizabeth would bear a son. He doubted it due to his old age, and was struck mute until John was named eight days after John's birth. He and Elizabeth insisted that he be named John as the Angel had proclaimed, against the Family tradition. Perhaps it had to do with the name of John meaning "God is Gracious", and that is exactly the message that John would proclaim - that God is indeed present and giving us grace through the Lamb of God - Jesus Christ.

In his life, John knew his vocation. As the last of the prophets in the biblical sense, and the forerunner of the Messiah, he was to prepare the way for his Sacred cousin. He would say that he must decrease, Christ must increase. He was content to point to Christ, and to 'to get out of the way' of people following Christ. He was unafraid to proclaim the message of repentance, and as part of that message provided a ritual (though not a sacrament in our sense) of baptism of repentance. Christ of course transformed this into our Sacrament of baptism of regeneration! In it all, John did not worry about what to eat and what to wear (though one could make the case that he should have a little more), but was anxious about the message. He did not mince words, but spoke the truth lovingly to all. Of course, he was beheaded as the cost of a dance and a pledge gone wrong.

Because of this, John provides a great model for priests especially. Are we willing to proclaim the Gospel in its fullness, even if it results in persecution? Are we willing to become less, to shrink from the limelight, to point others to Christ? Are we empty of ourselves, our desires, our preferences, to be better instruments of Christ?

Priests, especially those serving as pastors, are to bring people to Christ. The programs and policies, yes even adherence to Canon Law and Church norms, are all aimed at salvation in Christ. Obedience and humility marks John's life, and so too a priest's. John was a prayerful man, and out of that prayer, responded to the needs of the people, and so too a priest is to be. As we continue to discern a vocation, we should ask for St. John the Baptist's intercession, that we would know the virtues of obedience, humility, and prayer. We should ask him to pray for us, that if we are being called to such a great vocation as being a priest, that we would also have the ability to become less, that Christ would be proclaimed in our every action.