Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
The Solemnity of St. John the Baptist is a unique feast day within the Church
and it reminds us that God has a plan for each and every one of us,
all of us are chosen by God to be holy and blameless and to serve him
and our mission in life is important no matter who we are,
great or small, rich or poor, healthy or sick, whatever our circumstances,
God has a plan for us and that plan is important
and if we fulfill it, we are doing something beautiful for God.
I say this feast day is unique because St. John the Baptist is the only one of the saints
whose birthday we celebrate, excluding, of course, our Lord and our Blessed Lady.
They are the only other two saints, or our Lord God and our Lady, the Mother of God.
Of course, we celebrate their birthdays.
St. John the Baptist, we celebrate his birthday as a unique feast
because all the other saints, we only celebrate their deaths.
You know, their passing from this life into the next.
But St. John the Baptist...
The Baptist's birth is unique and so we celebrate it.
The liturgical calendar is arranged in such a way that these three births fall into place
in a sort of historical way.
The Annunciation takes place on March 25th and then nine months later we celebrate Christmas.
We're told in the Scriptures that when Our Lady went to visit St. Elizabeth,
which was right after the conception of Jesus, Elizabeth was in her sixth month.
So six months.
So three months, rather, from March 25th we celebrate the Feast of John the Baptist.
And we remember, in a particular way, these three births.
Of course, Jesus, because he's the Son of God,
and everything centers around that central event of history,
which is the Word made flesh.
Our Lady, because she is the Mother of God and the instrument by which Christ came into the world,
and because her...
Her birth, in a very unique way, was holy.
But even more holy because her conception was holy.
And then we celebrate also the Feast of the birth of St. John the Baptist today
because St. John the Baptist's birth was also unique.
The greatest of all the prophets, the one called to be the precursor of the Lord,
the tradition tells us that St. John the Baptist was sanctified in his mother's womb.
And this is what we are reading about when we reflect...
read about and reflect upon the visitation of Our Lady to her cousin, St. Elizabeth.
Our Blessed Lady was the Ark of the Covenant,
the one bearing the New Covenant written in the blood of Christ,
carrying the Christ child in the first moments of his existence in his mother's womb.
We're told by St. Luke that after the Annunciation,
she went with haste to the hill country to visit her cousin, St. Elizabeth,
and when Our Lady came into the presence of St. Elizabeth,
St. Elizabeth was aware of the outpouring of grace
because of the presence of the Christ child in her womb.
And the child, St. John the Baptist, leapt in St. Elizabeth's womb for joy
at the presence of Christ and his Holy Mother.
We're told that that moment St. John the Baptist was sanctified.
He was washed clean of original sin.
He was given this unique privilege of being born without any sin,
without original sin, being born in the state of grace
because of his unique mission to be the precursor of the Lord.
This is why Our Lord says in the Gospel that no man born of woman is greater than John the Baptist.
But the interesting thing here is we have to remember that when anybody is chosen in a special way
or loved by God in a particular way,
and of course Our Blessed Lady is the Mother of God,
St. John the Baptist as his precursor,
we're chosen in a very special way
and we're loved by God in a very special way.
When that happens, God does that also for the rest of us.
They are chosen, people are chosen for the sake of the church,
for the sake of God's family.
And we are all called to be lifted up,
in the choice of Our Lady, as the Mother of God,
in the choice of St. John the Baptist
as the precursor,
the choice of St. John the Evangelist as the beloved disciple.
St. John was taken aside and given that unique place
so that all of us could see how much God has loved us
and how he calls us into his company.
And when our Lord says to his hearers
that no one is greater than John the Baptist, born of woman,
he also qualifies his statement by saying,
but anyone who is a child of the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Can be greater than he.
And the point isn't to say that St. John the Baptist is not one of the greatest saints.
The point is to say that that choice of St. John as his precursor
isn't the thing that makes him most pleasing to God.
Just as the choice of Our Lady as mother of God
is not in the first place the thing that makes her pleasing to God.
On the contrary, Our Lady was most pleasing to God
and therefore God chose her to be his mother.
Or rather...
Or rather, we can say that God created her perfect,
made her his perfect tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant,
so that she might be worthy to become his mother.
And St. Augustine and many of the fathers of the Church
reflect upon Our Lady's cooperation with the angel at the Annunciation
and say, tell us that, for example, St. Augustine tells us
that Our Lady is blessed rather because she believed
than because she believed.
And so, we can say that God created her perfect, made her perfect,
and because she is the mother of God.
And there's no question that Our Lady's dignity
is raised above all other human beings
because God has chosen to dwell in her womb.
And yet, God chose to dwell in her womb
because she was so pleasing to him.
And it's that more than anything else
that makes her who she is.
And this is why Our Lord corrects the woman
who calls out from the crowd,
blessed is the womb that bore you
and the breasts at which you nursed,
by saying,
rather blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.
He's not pushing Our Lady off to the side.
He's rather focusing our attention on her
in the most appropriate way.
Yes, she's blessed because she conceived and gave birth to Jesus,
but she is more blessed because she heard the word of God
and put it into practice.
And so, we always have to remember
that each and every one of us are chosen by God
to be blessed.
And so, we need to fulfill the mission that he has given us.
And whether our mission is to do something extraordinary,
like St. John the Baptist,
or some of the other extraordinary saints,
like St. Joseph, or St. Maximilian Kolbe,
or St. Francis, or St. Joan of Arc,
or whether we're called to live in relative obscurity,
like St. Therese, for example,
or all the other saints that we don't know
because they have never been called to,
to be raised to the altars,
that's not the most important thing.
The most important thing is that we fulfill God's word.
We hear his word and we put it into practice.
And that is our, each and every one of us,
we all share that dignity in common.
Each and every one of us, no matter who we are,
no matter what our past is,
no matter what family we come from,
no matter what our job is,
no matter how smart we are,
no matter, you know, whatever circumstances
we have experienced or as part of our life,
each and every one of us share this thing in common,
that we all are called to be holy and pleasing to God,
and God gives us the grace to do that.
And if we fulfill the task of being pleasing to God,
we have done everything that the Lord expects of us.
St. Francis of Assisi,
said to his brothers,
you know, sometimes you think it's the preachers
who bring about the conversion of souls
and who are most pleasing to God
and that we need to have more eloquent preachers
and we should be, you know, thankful to God
that we have a lot of eminent people joining the order
and who are noteworthy.
And he said, you know, that's not really the case.
He says that the true brothers in the order,
those who are the true knights of the round table,
he called them,
are those who live in obscurity and pray
and do penance and do everything they can
to be pleasing to God.
He wasn't saying that the preachers weren't important
or that the preachers couldn't be holy.
What he was saying is that we really need to focus
our attention on the things that are most important.
St. Maximilian said something similar to his friars
in his city of the Immaculate in Poland.
He says, in what does the progress
of our community consist?
Does it consist in having,
bigger and better printing presses
or more and more brothers joining the order
or more magazines or, you know,
more people frequenting the friary?
And he said, no, the entire progress
of what we're doing depends upon our interior union
with Our Lady and through her with God.
And that should be something that we always,
always keep in mind.
None of us are deprived of ever living in union with God.
None of us are deprived of ever living in union with God.
None of us are deprived of ever living in union with God.
None of us are deprived of ever living in union with God.
None of us are deprived of ever living in union with God.
None of us are deprived of ever living in union with God.
None of us are deprived of ever living in union with God.
And doing what's pleasing to Him.
We may have plenty of crosses to carry.
We may have a lot of temptations.
There may be many things in our life
which do not please us
and make life difficult to endure sometimes.
But we always have the ability
to do something that is beautiful for God.
And if we live a life of prayer,
you know, that can be a real consolation.
It may not be a real consolation.
It may not be, you know,
it may not give us an emotional high,
but it can help us maintain our peace of conscience
and our peace of soul.
You know, which is something that can persist
in spite of the external distractions
and annoyances of life.
We can always return to the presence of the Lord
and realize that He is with us
and that He is pleased by our efforts
to live a life of prayer.
To please Him.
Ultimately, this is what St. John the Baptist did.
You know, his great holiness and dignity
consisted not so much in the fact
that he was called to be our Lord's precursor,
but in the fact that he was faithful to the very end.
And this is the great dignity
to which each and every one of us are called.
Amen.
We celebrate the feast of the birth of St. John the Baptist
and we honor him in a very special way
because of his great vocation
and of his great holiness.
But we do not forget, we cannot forget
that each and every one of us has been called
and have a mission.
You know, as Catholics,
we believe that we are truly members of God's family.
There is a communion of saints
and it's not just the saints in heaven.
It's also,
it's also those who live in the state of grace
here on earth.
We are members of the body of Christ
and we truly participate in his life
and we are joined to his mission.
We are baptized into Christ
and we are baptized, each of us,
prophets, priests, and kings.
And we come here before God's altar
to offer the sacrifice of our lives.
And it's not merely a gesture
of saying to God,
Lord, you know, I offer you my life.
And my intention is to do the right thing.
But our offering is an instrument of grace.
We don't redeem people in the sense
that our Lord redeemed people from the cross.
We don't co-redeem in the sense
that our lady stood at the foot of the cross
and together with our Lord won the graces
that fill the treasuries of heaven.
But each and every one of us
can be an instrument of God's grace
and are called to be that instrument.
We are called to offer a sacrifice
that is pleasing to the Lord.
And our willingness to do that
makes a difference
whether anybody sees it or not.
The fundamental apostolate, of course,
is not to preach.
St. Francis said, you know,
preach always and sometimes use words.
You know, so it's not in the first place
to say something,
although saying something very often
is important and even crucial.
But it's not even,
the first apostolate is not even,
giving good example.
And that truly is even more primary
than actually saying something.
And that's why St. Francis says,
you know, preach always and sometimes use words.
The most fundamental apostolate
for each and every one of us
is the apostolate of prayer.
It's the apostolate of living a virtuous life
and offering a sacrifice in union with God.
And, you know, we should remember always
that that is the most fundamental thing
and make sure that we do that
before anything else.
Give God our time each day in prayer
and try to make our participation
in the holy sacrifice of the Mass fruitful.
And that should lead us, you know,
to the works of the apostolate,
to doing the right thing in our families
and giving good example
and then speaking up when necessary
and being a witness in the world.
All of that is necessary,
but it has to begin fundamentally
with a life of prayer.
All of that is necessary.
All of us are capable of doing something
very, very important for God.
All of us are called to be pleasing to Him
and to fulfill the mission
that He has given us in this life.
All of us are called to be holy
and pleasing in His sight.
And that is what we have to remember today
as we honor St. John the Baptist.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!