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24 giu 2018

24/06/2018 – The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

24/06/2018 – The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Reading 1, Isaiah 49,1-6 Psalm 138 Reading 2, Acts 13, 22-26 Gospel, Luke 1, 57-66. 80

The birth of John, named the Baptist and Precursor after the task given to him and carried out by him for his people, is such a surprising event to be recorded in Saint Luke’s gospel in full details and to be celebrated by the Church with a dedicated solemnity.

The prayer of the liturgy summarizes in a single sentence the reason for John’s coming: “O God, who raised up Saint John the Baptist to make ready a nation fit for Christ the Lord”! John has been sent by God carrying a particular mission. His life, through his words and his works, should have been a preparation for the people to welcome the anointed of God, the Messiah. His entire life is then centered on Jesus, just as he himself rightly understood and clearly admitted: “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 baptize with water was so that he might be revealed to Israel”. Jesus Himself has given testimony to John when he rebuked the leaders saying: “John came to you, but you did not believe him”. He needed then to prepare for the Christ an open-hearted people: men's heart and the human environment must be ready to welcome Jesus, and this preparation can be carried out by men of God, obedient men, all dedicated to God. John’s mission is re-lived by any Christian: I too, as a matter of fact, with my life based on God, and my words enlightened by the faith, have influence on my environment and help whoever is around me to look with care at and to welcome my Lord without suspicion. To celebrate this feast is then an occasion to enjoy this mission of ours and to check if we are carrying it out fruitfully. The first one to rejoice in this feast, we can say, is the Father Himself, like Saint Paul says, quoting a passage of the scriptures: “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will perform my entire will”. Whenever God sees that He is obeyed by a man, He «rejoices», not only for the obedience, but above all because His love can reach its destination, it can get to save those men suffering because of their sin. During his mission, John just needed to wake men up to recognize their sins and to repent in order to begin a journey of conversion to God.

The gospel lingers to describe a detail that may appear secondary: the attribution of a name to the baby when he is being circumcised, that is to say in the moment in which he is included in the covenant between God and Abraham. If the baby was only coming from human actions, even if they are full of love, he could be given a name related to his fathers. In this case, the name would be the father’s, Zachary, “God remembers”. It is truly a dignified name: God remembers the promises he made to His people, but He also remembers our sins! Zachary is a name that is looking at the past. Instead, God looks only at the future, He wants our future to be bright, beautiful, new, full of his presence. He is revealing this to us with the new name of the baby: “His name is John”! John is a name that reveals to us the face of God: “God is merciful, God is benevolent, God is love”! In this way, starting with his very name, he is preparing us to welcome Jesus, the gift through which God has shown so much love for the world. The presence of John and his name are the assurance that God’s love will reach us. Let us give thanks to the Father for John the Baptist. In almost every church his image reminds the faithful that we too met Jesus thanks to the testimony and the word of somebody who loves God, sent by Him on our path. I will then be careful to be meek in front of the Father as well: he could use me as precursor of Jesus in some brother’s life.