Solemnity of the Birth of St John the
Baptist
June 24
Today's Entrance Antiphon - Jn 1:6-7; Lk 1:17
A man was sent from God, whose name
was John. He came
to testify to the light, to prepare a people fit
for the Lord.
Today's Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia! You, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his
way. Alleluia,
alleluia!
"Happy birthday of John the
Baptist. His birth is the culmination of an age, an
era, a Covenant. He is the last of the Old Testament Prophets.
His birth signals an end and a
beginning. The Book of Hebrews says By
calling this covenant “new,” [God] has made the first one obsolete; and what is
obsolete and aging will soon disappear (Hebrews 8:13). Hence John
would later say, “The bride belongs to
the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him,
and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and
it is now complete. He must increase; I must decrease. (Jn
3:29-30). Today John
the Baptist is born who will usher in the new by answering the most significant
question ever posed: "But where is the Lamb?'"
Msgr Charles
Pope
Pastor ~ Holy Comforter
- St Cyprian Parish ~ Washington, DC
“Behold the Lamb of
God
who takes away the
sins of the world.”
(St
John the Baptist is quoted at every Mass)
Prayer after Communion (Today's Mass)
Having feasted at the banquet of the heavenly Lamb,
we pray, O Lord,
that, finding joy in the nativity of Saint John the
Baptist,
your Church may know as the author of her
rebirth
the Christ whose coming John foretold.
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
“I
want to show you a sun that shone more brightly than all these,
a soul that was truly free and
detached, cleaving only to the will of God. I have often
wondered who is the most mortified of the saints I know, and after some
reflection I have come to the conclusion that it was Saint John the Baptist. He
went into the desert when he was five years old and knew that our Savior and his
came on earth in a place quite close by, one or two days' journey perhaps. How
his heart, touched with love of his Savior from the time He was in His Mother's
womb, must have longed to enjoy His presence! Yet he spends twenty-five years in
the desert without coming to see our Lord even once; and leaving the desert he
stays to catechize without visiting Him but waiting till our Lord comes to seek
him out. Then when he has baptized Him he does not follow Him but stays behind
to do his appointed task. How truly mortified was his spirit! To be so near his
Savior and not see Him, to have Him so close and not enjoy His presence! Is this
not a completely detached spirit, detached even from God Himself so as to do His
will and serve Him, to leave God for God, and not to love God in order to love
Him better? The example of this great saint overwhelms me with its grandeur.”
~ St Francis de Sales
St John the Baptist, pray for
us!
No comments:
Post a Comment