Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist

While reading today’s first reading, I could hear the excitement in the family’s voices as they discussed the child to be born, John the Baptist. And as I read the responsorial psalm, my excitement grew to read how God knows when we sit and when we stand. And God understands our thoughts, and our ways are familiar to him. And that it was God who formed us and knit us in our mother’s womb. And that God knew of all my form and bones as he put me together in my mother’s womb.

And then instantly, I was saddened as I thought of all those lives taken in a mother’s womb that God had a plan for. Please take time and pray for the unborn and the would-be mothers and fathers. Especially pray for what John the Baptist continually preached, which was repentance in us and others.

John the Baptist also used the word “Behold.” We hardly pay attention to that word; however, it is used 1,298 times in the King James version of the Bible. Behold means you got to see this; don’t miss this. When he saw Jesus John said behold the lamb of God who takes away the world’s sins. So, as we should too, as John always pointed others to Jesus, that is precisely what John the Baptist was born for, and so were we.

On retreat in 1865 in Rome, Father Peter Julian Eymard understood that his Lord and our Lord wants our hearts surrendered.

Let Us Pray:

Dear heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of Saint John the Baptist, pointing us to the lamb of God, Jesus. Amen.