The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Today we celebrate, with intense spiritual joy, the feast of the birth of Saint John the Baptist. The name John means “God gives His grace.” And what is God’s greatest grace? God Himself — that is, our participation in the divine nature itself, our immersion into the intimacy of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Only three births are celebrated by the Church. First, the birth of Jesus, on December 25, who through His Incarnation took on human nature to redeem it from all impurity and unite it to divine life. Then, the birth of the Virgin Mary, on September 8, whose soul was free from every stain of original sin from the moment of her conception. And finally, the birth of Saint John the Baptist, who, though not immaculate as Our Lady was, nonetheless had his heart purified while still in the womb of Saint Elizabeth, right after Mary’s greeting, when “the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Lk 1:41).

Indeed, from within his mother’s womb, through the action of the Holy Spirit, charity — perfect love for Jesus — took hold of Saint John’s heart. He met Jesus, who was still within the womb of the Most Blessed Virgin; and there, through the humanity of Jesus, receiving the Holy Spirit, John became a burning, unquenchable fire of love for God.

Before the holy life of John the Baptist, we ask ourselves: how shall we prepare in our hearts a wide, well-paved road for the coming of Our Lord? There is only one answer to this greatest and most decisive question of our lives: by passing through the same living experience John the Baptist underwent — renewing each day, through a life of serious and determined prayer, our intimate contact with the Holy Spirit; by seeking Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, extended through the hands of Our Lady, our Mother and Teacher, within the bosom of the Holy Catholic Church, through the Word of God and the Sacraments.

On this Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, let us implore his intercession, look to his example, and heed his voice that cries out: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths,” and also: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”