Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and for ever.
The celebration of the birth of St. John the Baptist is important because among those born of women, there was no one greater than him in all of Israel's history.
His birth was truly extraordinary.
First, it was a miracle because his mother was sterile.
But there were others who owed their births to miracles, such as Isaac.
What really distinguishes the Baptist's birth from others is grace.
We are all born children of wrath, for we are born without God's grace in original sin.
We must receive baptism to have that grace.
This is why Jesus said to Nicodemus, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
John's birth is extraordinary because it is an exception to this rule.
He was born in God's grace because he was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother's womb when Our Lady greeted her cousin, St. Elizabeth.
Like us, he had to be redeemed from original sin, but he was redeemed in a unique way.
Our Blessed Mother brought Jesus to Elizabeth and John to fill them with grace and with the Holy Spirit.
This is how John was born, St. John, in the grace of God, and that is why we celebrate his birth, because he was born holy.
Only three births are celebrated in the liturgy, that of Jesus at Christmas, that of Mary on September 8th, and that of St. John the Baptist today.
For the other saints, we celebrate their deaths, because they died saints, but these three were already born saints.
Jesus is the Holy One of God.
His humanity is holy because it is God's human nature.
Mary, most holy, is the Immaculate Conception.
Like Jesus, she is holy from the moment of her conception, but by a singular grace.
St. John was conceived in original sin like the rest of us, but when Our Lord greeted Elizabeth at the visitation, the guilt of original sin was removed, grace infused, and the Holy Spirit began to dwell in the soul of a baby who weighed less than two pounds.
Holiness is not commensurate with the size of the body.
In fact, Jesus was still microscopic at that point, and yet he was already acting as the Savior of the world.
St. John became a prophet in the womb, and unable to speak, he announced the Redeemer's presence with a leap.
Here when he was born, he was still a saint, consecrated to God and a prophet.
Today's Gospel tells of his circumcision.
According to the Law of Moses, boys were circumcised on the eighth day after birth, and on that occasion Jews used to name them.
Zechariah, his father, was unable to speak as a punishment for having doubted the words of the angel Gabriel.
His relatives, the male ones, thought that they should honor him by giving the child his name, but his mother insisted, that is, John's mother insisted that he should be called John, and when the relatives objected, the father also wrote, John is his name, and he could speak for the first time in over nine months.
The boy had to be called John because the angel Gabriel had indicated that name when he had announced the miraculous conception to Zechariah.
But what is the meaning of this name, so important that an angel brought it from heaven?
It means, the Lord showed favor, or the Lord has been gracious.
What favor?
What grace?
Not just the grace of a miraculous birth, but the grace of being sanctified from the womb, the grace of being made a prophet of God.
The words of the prophet Isaiah in the first reading apply to the grace that John received.
Before birth the Lord called me, from my mother's womb he gave me my name, he made my mouth like a sharp edged sword.
John's mouth was indeed to speak sharp words, words like these, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
John's mouth was a sword that penetrated to the heart to produce compunction and prepare hearts to receive the Messiah.
He was not afraid to confront even the powerful, he said to Herod who ruled Galilee, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.
These are words that cost him his head, making him a martyr for the truth about marriage.
St. John Fisher was likewise martyred for the truth about marriage, he was killed on June 22nd by King Henry VIII.
Marriage is between a man and a woman, and it lasts as long as both live.
Kings, politicians and courts can change laws, but they cannot change reality.
Divorce ends the civil rights and duties of spouses, but it does not change their status in God's eyes.
When laws do not correspond to reality, they lead to suffering.
St. John is a witness to the truth about Christ and the truth about marriage, and it is a truth that sets us free, even when this truth is unpopular or inconvenient.
The wonders that accompanied John the Baptist's circumcision were a sign of the extraordinary future that awaited him.
Thereafter the child grew and became strong in spirit.
He not only grew as every child does, but he became strong in the life of the spirit.
He grew in grace and holiness.
Even as a child, grace gave him knowledge and prudence beyond his years so that he could live in the desert.
There he was able to devote himself to fasting, prayer and the contemplation of divine mysteries in order to prepare himself for his great mission.
But the one who grew before his mission would instead decrease after his mission, not in holiness but in the attention that he would receive.
After John was completing his course, he would say, What do you suppose that I am?
I am not he.
Behold, one is coming after me.
I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.
He also said, He, that is Christ, must increase, but I must decrease.
In God's providence, this fact is indicated by the respective birthdates of Christ and his precursor.
St. Augustine explains that man might be humbled, John was born on the day on which the days began to grow shorter.
That God might be exalted, Christ was born on the day on which the days began to grow longer.
A great and significant sacrament indeed, sacrament in the sense of mystery, something to be pondered.
And so by pondering this, we learn from the great John to decrease so that Christ may increase and reign in us.
Praised be Jesus and Mary.
Now and forever.
Amen.