Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 06-24-04, Solemnity, Nativity of St. John the Baptist

USCCB.org/New American Bible ^ | 06-24-04 | New American Bible

[Salvation]

June 24, 2004
Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
Mass during the Day

Psalm: Thursday 28 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Reading II Gospel

Reading I
Is 49:1-6

Hear me, O coastlands,
listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother's womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15

R (14) I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.
O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R I praise you for I am wonderfully made.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother's womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.
My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
R I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

Reading II
Acts 13:22-26

In those days, Paul said:
"God raised up David as king;
of him God testified,
I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;
he will carry out my every wish.
From this man's descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.
John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance
to all the people of Israel;
and as John was completing his course, he would say,
‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.
Behold, one is coming after me;
I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.'

"My brothers, sons of the family of Abraham,
and those others among you who are God-fearing,
to us this word of salvation has been sent."

Gospel
Lk 1:57-66, 80

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child
she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her.
When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
"No. He will be called John."
But they answered her,
"There is no one among your relatives who has this name."
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name,"
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Then fear came upon all their neighbors,
and all these matters were discussed
throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
"What, then, will this child be?"
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.

The child grew and became strong in spirit,
and he was in the desert until the day
of his manifestation to Israel.

[Salvation]

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Saints John The Baptist, Zachary and Elizabeth [THE BIRTH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST]

Beheading of St John The Baptist

[Salvation]

From: Acts 13:22-26


Preaching in the Synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia (Continuation)

---

(Paul said to the Jews,) [26] "Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham,
and those among you that fear God, to us has been sent the message of
this salvation. [27] For those who live Jerusalem and their rulers,
because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the
prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning
him. [28] Though they could charge him with nothing deserving death,
yet they asked Pilate to have him killed. [29] And when they had
fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the
tree, and laid him in a tomb. [30] But God raised him from the dead;
[31] and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from
Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
[32] And we bring you the good news that what God had promised to the
fathers, [33] this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising
Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm.

---

Commentary:


16-41. Paul's address here is an excellent example of the way he used
to present the Gospel to a mixed congregation of Jews and proselytes.
He lists the benefits conferred by God on the chosen people from
Abraham down to John the Baptism (verses 16-25); he then shows how all
the messianic prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus (verses 26-37), and,
by way of conclusion, states that justification comes about through
faith in Jesus, who died and then rose from the dead (verse 38-41).


This address contains all the main themes of apostolic preaching, that
is, God's saving initiative in the history of Israel (verses 17-22);
reference to the Precursor (verses 24-25); the proclamation of the
Gospel or "kerygma" in the proper sense (verses 26b-31a); mention of
Jerusalem (verse 31b); arguments from Sacred Scripture (verses 33-37),
complementing apostolic teaching and tradition (verses 38-39); and a
final exhortation, eschatological in character, announcing the future
(verses 40-41). In many respects this address is like those of St.
Peter (cf. 2:14ff; 3:12ff), especially where it proclaims Jesus as
Messiah and in its many quotations from Sacred Scripture, chosen to
show that the decisive event of the Resurrection confirms Christ's
divinity.


Paul gives a general outline of salvation history and then locates
Jesus in it as the expected Messiah, the point at which all the various
strands in that history meet and all God's promises are fulfilled. He
shows that all the steps which lead up to Jesus Christ, even the stage
of John the Baptist, are just points on a route. Earlier, provisional
elements must now, in Christ, give way to a new, definitive situation.


"You that fear God" (verse 26): see the notes on Acts 2:5-11 and 10:2.

---

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

[Salvation]

From: Luke 1:57-66, 80


The Birth and Circumcision of John the Baptist

---

[57] Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave
birth to a son. [58] And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the
Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
[59] And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they
would have named him Zechariah after his father, [60] but his mother
said, "Not so; he shall be called John." [61] And they said to her,
"None of your kindred is called by this name." [62] And they made
signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called.
[63] And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John."
And they all marvelled. [64] And immediately his mouth was opened and
his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. [65] And fear came on
all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through
all the hill country of Judea; [66] and all who heard them laid them up
in their hearts, saying "What then will this child be?" For the hand
of the Lord was with him.


[80] And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the
wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

---

Commentary:


59. Circumcision was a rite established by God under the Old Covenant
to mark out those who belonged to His chosen people: He commanded
Abraham to institute circumcision as a sign of the Covenant He had made
with him and all his descendants (cf. Genesis 17:10-14), prescribing
that it should be done on the eighth day after birth. The rite was
performed either at home or in the synagogue, and, in addition to the
actual circumcision, the ceremony included prayers and the naming of
the child.


With the institution of Christian Baptism the commandment to circumcise
ceased to apply. At the Council of Jerusalem (cf. Acts 15:1ff), the
Apostles definitely declared that those entering the Church had no need
to be circumcised.


St. Paul's explicit teaching on the irrelevance of circumcision in the
context of the New Alliance established by Christ is to be found in
Galatians 5:2ff; 6:12ff; and Colossians 2:11ff.


60-63. By naming the child John, Zechariah complies with the
instructions God sent him through the angel (Luke 1:13).


64. This miraculous event fulfills the prophecy the angel Gabriel made
to Zechariah when he announced the conception and birth of the Baptist
(Luke 1:19-20). St. Ambrose observes: `With good reason was his tongue
loosed, because faith untied what had been tied by disbelief"
("Expositio Evangelii Sec. Lucam. in loc.").


Zechariah's is a case similar to that of St. Thomas, who was reluctant
to believe in the resurrection of our Lord, and who believed only when
Jesus gave him clear proof (cf. John 20:24-29). For these two men God
worked a miracle and won their belief; but normally He requires us to
have faith and to obey Him without His working any new miracles. This
was why He upbraided Zechariah and punished him, and why He reproached
Thomas: "Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those
who have not seen and yet believe" (John 20:29).


80. "Wilderness": this must surely refer to the "Judean wilderness" which
stretches from the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea to the hill
country of Judea. It is not a sand desert but rather a barren steppe
with bushes and basic vegetation which suit bees and grasshoppers or wild
locusts. It contains many caves which can provide shelter.

---

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

[Salvation]

FEAST OF THE DAY

The feast of St. John the Baptist's birth has been celebrated by the
Church since the fourth century. John is the only saint, other than the
Blessed Mother whose birth is celebrated as a feast by the Church.
This highlights his importance in God's plan of salvation.

St. John the Baptist was the son of St. Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary.
John foretold the coming of the Messiah and called for a moral
repentance and a change of life. John's purpose was to prepare the
people to receive Jesus. He was one of the first people to recognize
Jesus as the Messiah, both at the Visitation and when he baptized
Jesus in the Jordan River. John offered the people a cleansing bath,
a baptism of water, to show repentance and reform, but he preached
that Christ would bring a baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit. John's
life was dedicated to preparing the world for Jesus and then pointing
people toward Jesus when he began his public ministry.

John's importance is also highlighted by the attention placed on him
by both Scripture and the Church. He is a prominent figure in all the
Gospels and the Church recognizes him by celebrating both his birth
on earth and his birth into heaven.


QUOTE OF THE DAY

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth
to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown
his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they
came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to
call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, "No.
He will be called John." But they answered her, "There is no one
among your relatives who has this name." So they made signs,
asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a
tablet and wrote, "John is his name," and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke
blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these
matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who
heard these things took them to heart, saying, "What, then, will this
child be?" For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. -Lk 1:57-66


TODAY IN HISTORY

1537 Ordination of St. Francis Xavier
1542 St. John of the Cross is born


TODAY'S TIDBIT

The Canticle of Zechariah was first prayed by Zechariah when his
mouth was opened. We repeat this canticle at every Morning Prayer.
The text of the canticle follows.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
Born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God
the down from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace. -Lk 1:68-79


INTENTION FOR THE DAY

St. John the Baptist is one of the few people whose birth on earth is
celebrated by the Church. This feast reminds us of the sanctity of
human life and calls us to be aware of its importance at every stage
of human development, from conception until death. Please pray for
an end to abortion.

[Salvation]

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.
Queen of Prophets, pray for us.
Queen of Martyrs, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, precursor of Christ, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, glorious forerunner of the Sun of Justice,
pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, minister of baptism to Jesus, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, burning and shining lamp of the world, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, angel of purity before thy birth, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, special friend and favorite of Christ, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, heavenly contemplative, whose element was prayer,
pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, intrepid preacher of truth, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, voice crying in the wilderness, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, miracle of mortification and penance, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, example of profound humility, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, glorious martyr of zeal for God's holy law,  pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, gloriously fulfilling thy mission, pray for us.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,  Spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,  Hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.

V. Pray for us, O glorious St. John the Baptist,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
 

Let us Pray:
O God, Who hast honored this world by the birth of Saint John the Baptist, grant that Thy faithful people may rejoice in the way of eternal salvation, through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
R. Amen.
 

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Meditation
Luke 1:57-66,80



The Birth of St. John the Baptist

Before becoming a convert, Bill thought Catholics had it pretty easy with sin: All you had to do was go to Confession! Obviously, he did not understand the relationship between repentance and Confes-sion. As he became more involved in my new church, however, he discovered that not too many of his fellow Catholics availed themselves of this beautiful sacrament either. We might legitimately ask, “Whatever happened to Confession?”

Part of the answer to this question lies in our expectations. We can approach Confession similar to the way Bill thought about it at first. The repentance that both John the Baptist and Jesus preached is an invitation to much more than simply fulfilling an obligation or participating in a ritual. Mind you, being forgiven by a loving and merciful God is awesome, but there is something more to repentance and Confession than simply being pardoned from our past sins.

Confession also gives us an opportunity to experience God’s healing love and the total freedom that is our inheritance as baptized Christians. We should expect to leave the confessional not just unburdened of the weight of our sins but with a fresh sense of purity and intimacy with the Lord. We should expect to be filled anew with the Holy Spirit and empowered to become more like Christ. We should also expect a deeper empowerment to go out into the world as a new creation ready to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Lord!

Our whole life is a pilgrim journey to the Father. God wants us to turn our faces away from evil, which requires a daily withdrawal from sin and a gradual but radical turning back to God through repentance. He wants us to experience heartfelt sorrow for the times we have sinned and a resolve to try harder to avoid sin—not out of fear or guilt but out of love for him. Whatever happened to Confession? It’s still alive and well and waiting for us to come.

“Father, I lift your name on high and praise you for calling me into your kingdom. I thank you for setting me apart, as you did John the Baptist, so that cleansed by your love and mercy, I might go forth as an ambassador for your name.”

[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

All Issues > Volume 20, Number 4

<< Thursday, June 24, 2004 >>

Birth of St. John the Baptizer

Isaiah 49:1-6
Acts 13:22-26

Psalm 139
Luke 1:57-66, 80

View Readings

DISAPPEARING INTO GREATNESS

“I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals on His feet.” —Acts 13:25

The meaning of John the Baptizer’s life is like the meaning of the lives of Mary, the canonized saints, and ourselves. We exist for Jesus. Therefore, everything about John is not primarily about John but about Jesus. John was conceived in relation to Jesus’ conception (see Lk 1:36). John was filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb of Elizabeth (Lk 1:15) because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary (Lk 1:35). John’s birthday points to Jesus’ birthday. John was a Nazirite (see Lk 1:15) to prepare for Jesus, the Nazorean (see Mt 2:23). John was like Elijah (Lk 1:17) because Jesus is the Messiah for Whom Elijah was to prepare. John preached the baptism of repentance because Jesus, the Lamb of God (see Jn 1:29), offers us Baptism to take away sins and also to give us a new nature (see Mk 1:8). John had disciples so he could send them to Jesus (Jn 1:29, 36-37). John is the voice (Lk 3:4) because Jesus is the Word (Jn 1:1, 14).

John’s life was about decreasing to the point (see Jn 3:30) that he had nothing to say for himself and everything to say for Jesus. In losing his life, John found his life (Lk 9:24; Gal 2:20) and became one of the greatest people who has ever lived (see Lk 1:15). Be like John.

Prayer: Jesus, my Life! (see Jn 14:6)

Promise: “Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the Lord.” —Is 49:4

Praise: St. John went “before the Lord to prepare straight paths for Him, giving His people a knowledge of salvation, in freedom from their sins” (Lk 1:76-77).

[Salvation]

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	Are You Receiving the Surprises that God Is Sending?
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, PhD.
Date:	Thursday, June 24, 2004

Lk 1:57-66

A jetliner was roaring down the runway when, just before takeoff, the pilot reversed engines, slammed on the brakes, and taxied back to the gate. Then it just sat there for a more than an hour before finally taking off. A nervous passenger asked the flight attendant what had happened. “Well,” she explained, “the pilot was really worried by a noise he heard in the engine, and it took us all this time to find another pilot!”


+ + +


A surprise, but not a happy one!

It’s hard to imagine the surprise that the parents of John the Baptist felt when they discovered Elizabeth was pregnant. They were old, really old! And childless! And suddenly there was a baby: Their lives were transformed, and they never would have dreamed it!

God still has lots of surprises, even for the oldest among us — gifts and blessings we’ve not yet even imagined. Many of them are already on the way. But will we receive them? Will we even notice when they arrive on our doorstep? We may, and then again we may not. It all depends on what we’ve decided to value, what we’ve decided is worth noticing, and what’s not.

An example: If “success” and “winning” are our priorities, we’ll look at people in a very specific, limited way. We’ll see them as potentially useful tools and also as possible adversaries, and we won’t see much else. That way of looking at people screens out their best parts and leaves the gift of a new friend lying unnoticed on the cutting room floor. God sends us wonderful gifts, but too often we don’t receive them.

Another example: If “peace and quiet” is our ultimate priority, the only real place for us is the grave. But that won’t stop some of us from trying to insulate ourselves from the world. And the payoff will be empty, cranky lives. We’ll be mad at our neighbors, mad at the guy who wants a hand-out, mad at our kids, mad at the little girl who picks a flower from our yard and then disturbs us by ringing the doorbell to give it to us. Our peace-and-quiet priority will screen out life’s nicest gifts, and leave us narrower and narrower, sadder and sadder, meaner and meaner.

If, on the other hand, we listen to Jesus and make God’s family our top priority, the flow of wonderful gifts will never stop: The upturned face of a child who knows we can be trusted, the confident stride of a troubled kid we helped grow into a doctor, the tender gaze of someone who knows how hard we’re trying, the hug of a friend we rescued from disaster. So many unexpected gifts will fill our days, because we learned from Jesus how to see, how to love, and how give ourselves as a gift.

God never runs out of surprises. For those who know how to see and how to love, every day will be full of them, right up to our last day. Then God’s best surprise will just fall into our hands, because we knew how to see and what to love.

Live what you’ve learned from Jesus, and you’ll have a future full of surprises, a future you never could have dreamed up on your own!

[Salvation]

American Cathlic's Saint of the Day

June 24, 2004

Birth of John the Baptist

Jesus called John the greatest of all those who had preceded him: “I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John....” But John would have agreed completely with what Jesus added: “[Y]et the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28).

John spent his time in the desert, an ascetic. He 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 for Jesus. His Baptism, he said, was for repentance. But One would come who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. John is not worthy even to carry his sandals. His attitude toward Jesus was: “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30).

John was humbled to find among the crowd of sinners who came to be baptized the one whom he already knew to be the Messiah. “I need to be baptized by you” (Matthew 3:14b). But Jesus insisted, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15b). Jesus, true and humble human as well as eternal God, was eager to do what was required of any good Jew. John thus publicly entered the community of those awaiting the Messiah. But making himself part of that community, he made it truly messianic.

The greatness of John, his pivotal place in the history of salvation, is seen in the great emphasis Luke gives to the announcement of his birth and the event itself—both made prominently parallel to the same occurrences in the life of Jesus. John attracted countless people (“all Judea”) to the banks of the Jordan, and it occurred to some people that he might be the Messiah. But he constantly deferred to Jesus, even to sending away some of his followers to become the first disciples of Jesus.

Perhaps John’s idea of the coming of the Kingdom of God was not being perfectly fulfilled in the public ministry of Jesus. For whatever reason, he sent his disciples (when he was in prison) to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah. Jesus’ answer showed that the Messiah was to be a figure like that of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah. John himself would share in the pattern of messianic suffering, losing his life to the revenge of Herodias.

Comment:

John challenges us Christians to the fundamental attitude of Christianity—total dependence on the Father, in Christ. Except for the Mother of God, no one had a higher function in the unfolding of salvation. Yet the least in the kingdom, Jesus said, is greater than he, for the pure gift that the Father gives. The attractiveness as well as the austerity of John, his fierce courage in denouncing evil—all stem from his fundamental and total placing of his life within the will of God.

Quote:

"And this is not something which was only true once, long ago in the past. It is always true, because the repentance which he preached always remains the way into the kingdom which he announced. He is not a figure that we can forget now that Jesus, the true light, has appeared. John is always relevant because he calls for a preparation which all men need to make. Hence every year there are four weeks in the life of the Church in which it listens to the voice of the Baptist. These are the weeks of Advent" (A New Catechism).

[NYer]

Thursday June 24, 2004   Birth of Saint John the Baptist

Reading I (Isaiah 49:1-6)   Reading II (Acts 13:22-26)

Gospel (St. Luke 1:57-66, 80)

We hear in the Gospel reading today about the birth of Saint John the Baptist. As we celebrate this great solemnity of the precursor of the Lord, we see the signs and wonders that accompanied his birth such that all of those who were related and all in the neighborhood would marvel at what was going on. They would ask the question, “What is this child to be?” Now as we look at this child, as he grew up he would not have been like other people. Never once did he commit any serious sin. He was completely healed of sin in the womb, so he was born without Original Sin, and he was then free of any serious sin throughout his life. Because he was free of sin, he did not live his life the way other people did. Therefore, he would have been someone who was misunderstood, someone who was rejected, just like Our Lord and Our Lady. They would not have been accepted because the way that they lived was not the way other people lived, because their hearts were focused solely on God.

Saint John the Baptist is then called out into the desert; and there, fasting and praying, he simply seeks to do the Will of God. His task is singular, and that is to point out the Messiah when He is to come. He is the last of the Old Testament prophets, and he is the first of the New Testament prophets. He is the person upon whom all of that hinges. Yet we see in him no miracles; we see in him absolutely nothing that would attract anybody – someone out in the desert, in the lowest spot in the world out by the Dead Sea where it is very hot and very humid, wearing camel skin and eating grasshoppers and wild honey. If he were alive today, they would probably lock up the greatest man born of woman and say that he is crazy. Yet we recognize that there is no one greater than he because Our Lord Himself has spoken these words.

So when we look at Saint John the Baptist, it helps us to be able to understand what our own lives are all about. He recognized who he was, but, more importantly, he recognized who he was not. He was not the Messiah, he was not the one who was appointed, but rather he was the one who was called to be the prophet of the Messiah. He lived a life that was different from the norm, and if anyone is truly going to live their faith it is going to be the same thing. You may not be out in the desert in camel skin and eating grasshoppers, but if you are going to live a truly Catholic life your life is not going to be like the average American. You are going to be rejected; you are going to be thought to be strange – or even worse, perhaps. Yet, at the same time, if you are truly living the life there is only one thing that is truly important, and that is doing God’s Will. It is seeking the Will of God in prayer, in fasting, and it is about carrying out the Will of God.

We also need to learn from Saint John the Baptist a very important lesson: He lived a hidden life for most of his entire life just like Our Lord did. It is not about necessarily going out and doing great things. If that is what God is asking then that is what needs to happen, but Saint John the Baptist lived out in the desert and it was not until very close to the end of his life that he was finally made manifest to Israel and then very quickly put to death. We see that he fulfilled every single thing that God had asked of him. Nothing was left unfulfilled in what his vocation was, and most of that was to be hidden, to pray, and to do penance.

For ourselves too, the same is true. We will not know God’s Will unless we are deeply rooted in prayer. In our society filled with chaos and noise, there is only one way that we are going to know His Will, and that is only if we are spending substantial amounts of time in prayer and fasting so that we can seek the Will of God. Only when God says to do something are we to do it. And it does not matter how small it may seem to us or how big it might seem to us; all that matters is that we are doing what God wants us to do and that we recognize who we are – but, most importantly, that we recognize who we are not. We are nothing great; we are nothing impressive; we are little; we are small; we are insignificant; we are sinners. We are unworthy of the gifts that God has given, and yet in His mercy He has given those gifts. He is simply asking now that we would cooperate, that we would use those gifts for His glory. That is what is most important.

Saint John the Baptist did not seek his own glory, but rather only the glory of Christ. That is precisely what our lives are to be as well. While God has given us many wonderful things, and many of us get caught up in them to our own glory, it is only through prayer that we are going to recognize how God wants us to use these gifts, what it is that He is asking of us in our own lives, and how we are going to give Him the most glory. That is what we can learn from this great saint who, on a worldly level, would have been a flash in the pan. They wrote him off and they put him to death because he was a censure to their thoughts. Yet his voice continues to cry out, and it will until the end of time: Behold, the Lamb of God; behold Him Who takes away the sins of the world.

[annalex]

Lk 1:57-66, 80
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
57	Now Elizabeth's full time of being delivered was come: and she brought forth a son.	Elisabeth autem impletum est tempus pariendi et peperit filium
58	And her neighbors and kinsfolks heard that the Lord had shewed his great mercy towards her: and they congratulated with her.	et audierunt vicini et cognati eius quia magnificavit Dominus misericordiam suam cum illa et congratulabantur ei
59	And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child: and they called him by his father's name Zachary.	et factum est in die octavo venerunt circumcidere puerum et vocabant eum nomine patris eius Zacchariam
60	And his mother answering, said: Not so. But he shall be called John.	et respondens mater eius dixit nequaquam sed vocabitur Iohannes
61	And they said to her: There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.	et dixerunt ad illam quia nemo est in cognatione tua qui vocetur hoc nomine
62	And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.	innuebant autem patri eius quem vellet vocari eum
63	And demanding a writing table, he wrote, saying: John is his name. And they all wondered.	et postulans pugillarem scripsit dicens Iohannes est nomen eius et mirati sunt universi
64	And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed: and he spoke, blessing God.	apertum est autem ilico os eius et lingua eius et loquebatur benedicens Deum
65	And fear came upon all their neighbours: and all these things were noised abroad over all the hill country of Judea.	et factus est timor super omnes vicinos eorum et super omnia montana Iudaeae divulgabantur omnia verba haec
66	And all they that had heard them laid them up in their heart, saying: What an one, think ye, shall this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him.	et posuerunt omnes qui audierant in corde suo dicentes quid putas puer iste erit etenim manus Domini erat cum illo
[...]
80	And the child grew and was strengthened in spirit: and was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel.	puer autem crescebat et confortabatur spiritu et erat in deserto usque in diem ostensionis suae ad Israhel

[annalex]

Is there any particular reason the familiar "et factum est" becomes "et factus est" in 65?

[Romulus]

Don't know.