Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we commemorate the great solemnity of the birth of St. John the Baptist, the one who preceded Christ and who was His messenger and herald, proclaiming the coming of the Lord to the nations that when He came, the way had been prepared and paved ready for Him to pass through.

And the readings today dealt with how John was special and how he was chosen and marked to be one of the Lord’s greatest servants. He has been marked since before he was born, and foretold before he was even conceived, in the same manner as that of his Lord, Jesus Christ, for whom he was born into the world. He has been chosen and prepared such that, through him, many good works would be done.

Why do we put so much importance on this particular servant of God, John the Baptist? That is because he was the one who proclaimed to the world the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, through his own words to his disciples, ‘This is the Lamb of God, He who takes away the sins of the world.’ These words which our priests utter every time they present the Most Holy Eucharist to us, sought to make it clear to all of us, who Christ truly is, and He is indeed present in the Eucharist.

And it was through John that we knew about Him, and it was some of His disciples who were also Jesus’ first disciples, because John told them to follow Him, the true Lord and Master who everyone ought to follow and worship, while he was just the messenger. Many people thought that he was the Messiah because of the many wondrous things he had done, and by the baptism and call to repentance which he had called the people to. Yet, he remained humble and continued to dedicate himself to his mission.

We have much to learn from this faithful man of God, a great servant and yet a humble follower of God’s will. He had many followers, and many had witnessed his miraculous deeds, and many listened to his teachings and his call to repentance, and many thousands upon thousands came to him to be baptised and to follow him. In any other man, the person would have succumbed to his pride and greed, and instead of being faithful to his mission, he would have made himself the Messiah, but not for St. John the Baptist.

St. John the Baptist remained true to his mission, revealing the true Messiah when He comes, and he humbly said to Him, that he would not be worthy to even untie the straps of His sandals, and yet Jesus asked him to baptise Him. Regardless of his doubts and his reluctance, he submitted to the will of his Master and God, and did as what he was told to do, and through that faith, the people could see that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, when the Holy Spirit came down upon Him as a dove, and the heavens opened with the voice of the Father proclaiming this truth.

And St. John the Baptist also uttered in another occasion, that he was happy when he was told that Jesus had done even more than what he had done, and had amassed even more followers than he did. And he said that, while He increased, he must decrease. This is yet another example of his great humility and his great faith in God, which all of us ought to follow and emulate in our own lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as all of us reflect on this celebration of the birth of this great servant of God, St. John the Baptist, let us all think about all that he has done, all of the things which we can also apply in our own lives. We too, brothers and sisters, are servants of our Lord, and just as St. John the Baptist had prepared the way for the first coming of Jesus into the world, we are also charged with the preparation for His next coming, which He had promised all of us.

Jesus will come again, as He had promised, and our task today is to continue to the good works of the Apostles and the disciples of Christ, and to follow in the examples which St. John the Baptist had shown us, preparing the path for our Lord’s eventual second coming into this world. And how do we do this? It is by walking faithfully in His path, and practicing His way in all of our actions, words and deeds.

May Almighty God be with all of us, guide us on our ways, and help us so that we may exemplify and walk in the footsteps of His faithful servant, St. John the Baptist. May God bless us all and keep us in His love forever. Amen.