WEDNESDAY 24TH JUNE 2020
SOLEMNITY OF THE BIRTHDAY OF ST
JOHN THE BAPTIST
Isaiah 49:1-6, Psalm
138:1-3,13-15, Acts 13:22-26, Luke 1:57-66,80
Apart from Jesus Christ and the
Blessed Virgin Mary, no other saint in the calendar of the Church has his/her
birthday celebrated apart from John the Baptist. This shows how important he
is.
Reading the story of how he was
born in the gospel reading of today, it confirms what the prophet Isaiah says
in the first reading. He was specially prepared to herald the coming of our
saviour. He is a relative of Jesus, he was born to Zachariah and Elizabeth the
cousin of the Virgin Mary. In the womb of her mother, she was already filled
with the Holy Spirit, and she leapt for joy at the sight of the virgin Mary who
was carrying Jesus in her womb.
He started his ministry of
preaching and called people to baptism of repentance. When Jesus started his
ministry, he told all his disciples who were already seeing him as the messiah
that Jesus is the messiah, he had only come to prepare the way for his coming.
The second reading of today tells us that
when God planned that Jesus a descendant of David be born to liberate us from
our sins, he also sent John the Baptist
to prepare the way for him. According to
John, Jesus must increase while he decreases (John 3:30). Some of the Apostles
of Jesus were formally working with John the Baptist.
The story of his death at the
hands of Herod Antipas through the plot of Herodias the illegitimate wife of
the king and the useless dance of salome her daughter though very painful, is
also very assuring. He died for the truth. He condemned evil and stood for
justice.
John the Baptist shows that it is
not the length of life that matters, we should think more of the quality of
life we live. Can we stand for truth to the point of death?According to Jesus,
of all children born of women, there is no one greater than John the Baptist
(Luke 7:28).
We pray for the grace of God to
achieve our mission quietly, and to be able to stay on the path of truth. Amen.
God help us.
Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP
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