In the calendar of the Church year there are very few Solemnities that will take the place of the regular Sunday liturgy. And of those Solemnities most of them have to do with either our Lord Jesus Christ or His Blessed Virgin Mother. And it is quite rare indeed for a Solemnity of one of the Saints to supplant a Sunday liturgy – such as today. The reason for this is because it is on Sunday that we continually celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection from the dead. The death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins that comes from it is the foundation of our Catholic Faith. It is the ultimate action of God on our behalf. It is so important that God’s commandment to “keep holy the Sabbath” is no longer kept on Saturday but on Sunday – the day of our Lord’s Resurrection. And because of its significance the Church, speaking with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, has declared from time immemorial that the Catholic faithful are obligated, under pain of mortal sin, to attend Mass on all Sundays, while also not forgetting other Holy Days of Obligation. And this is why the Sunday liturgy is usually not superceded by any other celebration. An occurance like this is reserved for only those Saints of utmost importance in salvation history and when it does occur we should take full recognition of the significance.
And so it is today that we celebrate an event very important in the history of salvation: the birth of St. John the Baptist. But even before his birth the Gospels show us how important St. John the Baptist is. His birth was announced beforehand by an angel to his father Zechariah. The angel told Zechariah that John would “be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.”1 And we see this fulfilled at Mary’s Visitation to Elizabeth when John leaped in his mother’s womb at the presence of Christ in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By so doing John bore witness to the Messiah being present and this is significant because John was to be the forerunner for our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, this was his main purpose: to prepare the way for our Lord and to bear witness to Him.
John was also the last of the prophets under the Old Covenant. All the prophets of the Old Testament were sent as indicators of what was to come; in other words, they all pointed to Christ. But it was John that was chosen to directly proceed our Lord in order to prepare the people to receive the message of God that was revealed to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It was also John’s duty to have the people acknowledge their sinfulness and receive baptism as a sign of repentance. And on at least one occasion, and I would imagine many others, those who were unwilling to acknowledge their sinfulness he personally challenged: for example, he challenged the marriage of Herod to Herodias, who was Herod’s brother’s wife. It is recorded in St. Mark’s Gospel that “John said to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’”2 And because of this willingness to stand up for the Truth he eventually lost his life.
And, like all the Saints that succeeded him, he has left for us an example of how we are to live our lives. And there are many lessons that we can learn from St. John the Baptist but I want to speak of just a few that are most appropriate for the times that we now live in.
And so it is today that we celebrate an event very important in the history of salvation: the birth of St. John the Baptist. But even before his birth the Gospels show us how important St. John the Baptist is. His birth was announced beforehand by an angel to his father Zechariah. The angel told Zechariah that John would “be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.”1 And we see this fulfilled at Mary’s Visitation to Elizabeth when John leaped in his mother’s womb at the presence of Christ in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By so doing John bore witness to the Messiah being present and this is significant because John was to be the forerunner for our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, this was his main purpose: to prepare the way for our Lord and to bear witness to Him.
John was also the last of the prophets under the Old Covenant. All the prophets of the Old Testament were sent as indicators of what was to come; in other words, they all pointed to Christ. But it was John that was chosen to directly proceed our Lord in order to prepare the people to receive the message of God that was revealed to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It was also John’s duty to have the people acknowledge their sinfulness and receive baptism as a sign of repentance. And on at least one occasion, and I would imagine many others, those who were unwilling to acknowledge their sinfulness he personally challenged: for example, he challenged the marriage of Herod to Herodias, who was Herod’s brother’s wife. It is recorded in St. Mark’s Gospel that “John said to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’”2 And because of this willingness to stand up for the Truth he eventually lost his life.
And, like all the Saints that succeeded him, he has left for us an example of how we are to live our lives. And there are many lessons that we can learn from St. John the Baptist but I want to speak of just a few that are most appropriate for the times that we now live in.
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