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 And this is why the Sunday liturgy is usually not superceded by any other celebration.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.
First of all, I want to speak about St. John being the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was his duty to prepare the people for Christ’s coming. The people were ignorant of who the Christ would be and what His purpose would be. St. John prepared them for this and also pointed out to the people of the time that Jesus was indeed the Christ. In a similar way we today have the same duty. As we all know this world is becoming progressively more and more un-Christian and even anti-Christian. It could have been said at one point in history that this country and all the countries of Europe were Christian nations but that is becoming less and less true. Because of the secularization of our Western society people know much less about God and His Son Jesus Christ than they did just 50 years ago. They also know much less about how to live a moral life and about how living a moral life is important for our happiness on this earth and indeed for our eternal salvation. And if anyone doubts that the world is becoming less and less Christian you need only look at one of the various media outlets: national news on TV, newpapers or political radio shows. And if that is not enough proof for you then simply look to the various forms of what passes for entertainment today whether it be books, music or movies. All of these various mouthpieces of Satan are constantly and tirelessly indoctrinating our society with the propaganda that proclaims that that which is True is false and that which is False is true. For example, just 50 years ago almost all Americans would have agreed that taking the life of an unborn baby was unthinkable. And those same people would have said that marriage is only between one man and one woman until death do them part. And those same people would have stood up and cried out with one voice that no government has a right to infringe upon mankind’s freedom of religion. And St. John the Baptist would have done the same.
But these things are not indicative of the country that we live in anymore and gives us proof that this country is forgetting its Christian identity. It is therefore our duty as members of Christ’s Body the Church to proclaim the Truth of the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ to our fellow man in this country and in the world. As St. Paul proclaimed to the Romans, “...how are men to call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?”3 Because of the Baptism that every Catholic has received we have all been called to preach the Truth to the whole world. We need, just like the blessed forerunner St. John, to prepare the world to receive Christ. And that leads into my next point about St. John and his example for us to follow.
How did St. John prepare the people for the arrival of Christ? Primarily, it was through convincing them of their sinfulness and getting them to acknowledge it. After all, why would anyone need a Messiah to bring forgiveness of sins unless they knew they had sins that needed to be forgiven? And this points out yet another problem with our society – that of either forgetting or denying that sin even exists. The followers of John were convinced by his teaching and knew that they had sin in their lives. They knew that they needed forgiveness that could not come from themselves but could only come from God. Sinfulness is the disease of the fallen condition of mankind and unless it is acknowledged and repented of the problems of this world will never be resolved. And we, just like St. John, must once again convince the world of its sinfulness.
So what is it that we are called to do in the midst of all these problems? Yet again let us look to St. John for the answer. Those he encountered he convinced of their sinfulness. That is what we need to do as well. Starting with ourselves let us acknowledge our sinfulness and beg God for pardon and mercy and the grace to overcome the sin in our lives. Next, with our families, let us reprove wrong thinking and sinfulness by raising our children in the Faith of the Catholic Church and by doing the best we can of teaching our extended families the Truth of the Faith. From their we should move on to our work colleagues and neighbors and so on and so on until the Truth of the Catholic Church conquers the whole world.
But many people, even inside the Church, would say, “But I can’t force my opinion on anyone else. They have their beliefs and I have mine. Who am I to preach to them?” In answer to that St. John the Baptist would probably have told us that we, as Catholics, are not simply sharing a particular point of view. It is no mere opinion that we profess. We, as Catholics, represent the one and only Truth that has been revealed to mankind by God Himself! Therefore, we do need to tell others the Truth of the Catholic Faith and convince people of their sinfulness.
But to this others might disdainfully say, “Judge not lest ye be judged – isn’t that what Jesus said?” Ah yes, the famous quote that is used by sceptics the world over to try to shut up those who speak the Truth. When this quote of our Lord is used in such a way those who use it conveniently forget what else our Lord said in the same chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, “...how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”4 This is why I said just a few moments ago that we should start by acknowledging our own sinfulness. And once we have done that and put in place those things which are necessary to overcome our own sinful way of life then we can and must help our fellow man overcome his own sinfulness. And yet again this is exactly what we learn from St. John the Baptist.
Of course, doing so is what eventually led to St. John’s death. I have already mentioned St. John’s challenge of Herod’s marriage to Herodias. John challenged this because Herod, being a leader of the people, was not presenting to the people a moral way of life. Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife was scandolous to the people and immoral in the eyes of God and it could not go without rebuke. In the same way and for the same reasons, we too are called to challenge those in authority in the governments of our own time.
I think all of us here are aware of the freedoms that our government is currently trying to take away from us – the most important being the freedom of religion and to follow one’s own conscience in matters of morality. But with this being a Presidential election year now is the time for us to stand up, look our leaders fearlessly in the eyes and tell them to stop taking away the freedoms that are bestowed on all men by God Himself. We must tell them to stop promoting immorality in the name of freedom to live life and we choose. And we must do so full willing to die for that which we believe. This is what St. John the Baptist teaches us and this is what we are called to do as well.
1St. Luke 1:15, RSV
2St. Mark 6:18, RSV
3Romans 10:14-15, RSV
4St. Matthew 7:4-5, RSV
But these things are not indicative of the country that we live in anymore and gives us proof that this country is forgetting its Christian identity. It is therefore our duty as members of Christ’s Body the Church to proclaim the Truth of the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ to our fellow man in this country and in the world. As St. Paul proclaimed to the Romans, “...how are men to call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?”3 Because of the Baptism that every Catholic has received we have all been called to preach the Truth to the whole world. We need, just like the blessed forerunner St. John, to prepare the world to receive Christ. And that leads into my next point about St. John and his example for us to follow.
How did St. John prepare the people for the arrival of Christ? Primarily, it was through convincing them of their sinfulness and getting them to acknowledge it. After all, why would anyone need a Messiah to bring forgiveness of sins unless they knew they had sins that needed to be forgiven? And this points out yet another problem with our society – that of either forgetting or denying that sin even exists. The followers of John were convinced by his teaching and knew that they had sin in their lives. They knew that they needed forgiveness that could not come from themselves but could only come from God. Sinfulness is the disease of the fallen condition of mankind and unless it is acknowledged and repented of the problems of this world will never be resolved. And we, just like St. John, must once again convince the world of its sinfulness.
So what is it that we are called to do in the midst of all these problems? Yet again let us look to St. John for the answer. Those he encountered he convinced of their sinfulness. That is what we need to do as well. Starting with ourselves let us acknowledge our sinfulness and beg God for pardon and mercy and the grace to overcome the sin in our lives. Next, with our families, let us reprove wrong thinking and sinfulness by raising our children in the Faith of the Catholic Church and by doing the best we can of teaching our extended families the Truth of the Faith. From their we should move on to our work colleagues and neighbors and so on and so on until the Truth of the Catholic Church conquers the whole world.
But many people, even inside the Church, would say, “But I can’t force my opinion on anyone else. They have their beliefs and I have mine. Who am I to preach to them?” In answer to that St. John the Baptist would probably have told us that we, as Catholics, are not simply sharing a particular point of view. It is no mere opinion that we profess. We, as Catholics, represent the one and only Truth that has been revealed to mankind by God Himself! Therefore, we do need to tell others the Truth of the Catholic Faith and convince people of their sinfulness.
But to this others might disdainfully say, “Judge not lest ye be judged – isn’t that what Jesus said?” Ah yes, the famous quote that is used by sceptics the world over to try to shut up those who speak the Truth. When this quote of our Lord is used in such a way those who use it conveniently forget what else our Lord said in the same chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, “...how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”4 This is why I said just a few moments ago that we should start by acknowledging our own sinfulness. And once we have done that and put in place those things which are necessary to overcome our own sinful way of life then we can and must help our fellow man overcome his own sinfulness. And yet again this is exactly what we learn from St. John the Baptist.
Of course, doing so is what eventually led to St. John’s death. I have already mentioned St. John’s challenge of Herod’s marriage to Herodias. John challenged this because Herod, being a leader of the people, was not presenting to the people a moral way of life. Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife was scandolous to the people and immoral in the eyes of God and it could not go without rebuke. In the same way and for the same reasons, we too are called to challenge those in authority in the governments of our own time.
I think all of us here are aware of the freedoms that our government is currently trying to take away from us – the most important being the freedom of religion and to follow one’s own conscience in matters of morality. But with this being a Presidential election year now is the time for us to stand up, look our leaders fearlessly in the eyes and tell them to stop taking away the freedoms that are bestowed on all men by God Himself. We must tell them to stop promoting immorality in the name of freedom to live life and we choose. And we must do so full willing to die for that which we believe. This is what St. John the Baptist teaches us and this is what we are called to do as well.
1St. Luke 1:15, RSV
2St. Mark 6:18, RSV
3Romans 10:14-15, RSV
4St. Matthew 7:4-5, RSV
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