Our annual celebration of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist makes John the only person, besides Jesus and his Mother, whose birthday is also a liturgical feast day. John’s unique mission, given to him from his mother’s womb, was to proclaim the arrival of the Messiah. He comes as a voice of hope for people throughout history.
In today’s Gospel, we read about the birth and the naming of John the Baptist. His birth was striking to members of the community because his mother, Elizabeth, was an older woman and considered to be barren. His father, Zechariah, also advanced in years, was mysteriously mute during the entire nine months of his wife’s pregnancy. We know from earlier in Luke’s Gospel that Zechariah was told by the angel Gabriel that his wife would bear a son, but he did not believe him. Because of this, his voice was taken away: “Behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words” (Lk 1:20).
So John’s birth was of special interest to the couple’s neighbors and relatives. When they all gather on the eighth day for the circumcision and the naming of the child, two more unusual things occur. First, the baby is named John (meaning “the Lord is gracious”), not Zechariah. And secondly, once Zechariah writes, “John is his name,” his tongue is freed, and he speaks blessing God.
These extraordinary events become the topic of conversation throughout Judea. As people discuss them and reflect on them, God works in their hearts. John, still an infant, serves as a means to awaken people to the truth that the Lord is gracious. How else but by the hand of God could any of this have occurred? Their thoughts about the child give evidence of the work of God in their hearts: “‘What then, will this child be?’ For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”
This story is familiar to us; it makes sense because we know how it ends. But if we look deeper, we find much to ponder. We can start by looking at John the Baptist in the context of salvation history. He has a very significant place, as described by St. Augustine: “John appears as the boundary between the two testaments, the old and the new. That he is a sort of boundary the Lord himself bears witness, when he speaks of the law and the prophets up until John the Baptist. Thus he represents times past and is the herald of the new era to come” (Sermo 293; cf. Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings, June 24).
There is a parallel between Isaiah and John the Baptist. Both men were called by the Lord before birth. Isaiah states that his God-given mission preceded his birth and that the Lord will use him as his special messenger. John’s mission as the herald of the Messiah also preceded his birth. Both can say, “The LORD called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.”
The Responsorial Psalm also speaks of life in the womb. Taken together, these three passages of Scripture – the first reading, the Psalm and the Gospel – give us a very strong pro-life message. Their appreciation of life in the womb confirms the Church’s teaching that life begins at conception, not at birth or sometime in between at the determination of the mother. “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life” (CCC 2270). God knew us and created us at the moment of our conception, tending to every detail of our body and soul. “Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb…. My soul also you knew full well; nor was my frame unknown to you…” Our life comes from God himself, and he has formed us in his own image and likeness.
Today’s feast gives us an opportunity to ponder the Responsorial Psalm and take it to heart, thanking God for making us. This can help us renew our own appreciation for our lives. Each of us exists by God’s deliberate choice. Like John the Baptist, God has made each one of us with a purpose, a unique mission. He has called us to follow him and to witness to his love. We are called not because we are great but because God is great and merciful. We are called despite our limitations because the Lord is gracious, and he wants us to have new life and to witness to this new life to those around us.
How can a profound silence enable the Spirit to work in my soul in a unique way? In what small way can I act as a herald of Christ’s presence to someone I encounter today? How am I witnessing to others the importance of respecting the life of another from the womb to the tomb?
Excerpt from The Anawim Way, Volume 22, no. 5. More information about The Anawim Way may be found here.