24/06/07 - THE FEAST OF BIRTH OF JOHN
THE BAPTIST
First reading Isaiah 49,1-6 Psalm 138
Second Reading Acts of the Apostles 13,22-26 Gospel Luke 1,57-66.80
The birth of John, called Baptizer or Precursor i.e. Forerunner, because of
his office or mission, is an event so important that Luke relates it with a
plenty of particulars, and that the Church celebrates it as a very important
feast day.
The opening prayer on today's liturgy recapitulates the reason of his coming
in one sentence: "God our Father, the voice of John the Baptist challenges
us to repentance and points the way to Christ the Lord." John has been
raised by God with a special mission. His life, his words and acts had to prepare
the people for the coming of Christ, the Messiah. For this reason his whole
life is directed to Jesus, as he said it him self: "Behind me comes one
who has passed ahead of me because he existed before me, I did not know him
myself, and yet my purpose in coming to baptise with water was so that he might
be revealed to Israel"(John 1,30-31). Christ himself gave testimony to
John when he reproved the leaders, saying to them: "John came, and you
did not believe him". Thus his mission was to prepare for Christ a people
well disposed.
The heart of the people and the human surroundings have to be prepared in order
to be able to accept Christ. And this preparation will be made by men of God,
obedient and completely devoted to God. Actually John's mission is the mission
of every Christian I too, through my way of life based on Christ, and through
my words of faith I am influencing my very surroundings and thus I can help
people to accept my Lord openly and with whole heart.
Thus, celebrating this feast is an opportunity for rejoice for our own mission
in the world and it is also a test in order to see if we accomplish our mission.
The first one that rejoices in this feast is the Lord God himself, as St. Paul,
quoting the Scripture, says: "I have found David son of Jesse, a man after
my own heart, who will perform my entire will". When the Lord sees the
obedience of a man, He is rejoicing, not just because of the obedience of this
man, but especially because his love is coming to its aim, i.e. the salvation
of men who are suffering because their sins. One of John's mission was to awake
people that they may confess that they are sinners and that they may repent
and begin a new life, to walk in the way going to the Lord God.
Today's Gospel reading relates a fact that at a first glance seems to be of
little importance; the fact of giving the baby his name. "Zechariah"
means "God remembers"; God remembers the promises He made to his people,
but He remembers our sins too! "Zechariah" is a name that concerns
the past. But God wants look at the future, and He wants that our future is
clear, shining, new and full of His presence. "John" is a name that
means "Lord is merciful". Thus we can see that just by his name John
is preparing us to accept Jesus. The personality of John and his name are warrant
of the fact that God's love is always with us.
We should be thankful to God our Father for giving us John the Baptist. In many
churches we can see pictures or statues of John; they remember us that we too
came to Jesus through the words or the testimony of some person that loves Jesus
and that was sent by Father to our way to prepare our heart for accept His Son.
In our life let us conform to the will of the Father and thus be the forerunner
of Jesus in the life of some people!