Solemnity Of The Birth Of St. John The Baptist…

Bartolome Esteban Murillo, St. John the Baptist as a Child c. 1665

Ordinarily the Church observes the day of a saint’s death as his feast, because that day marks his entrance into heaven. To this rule there are two notable exceptions, the birthdays of Blessed Mary and of St. John the Baptist. All other persons were stained with original sin at birth, hence, were displeasing to God. But Mary, already in the first moment of her existence, was free from original sin (for which reason even her very conception is commemorated by a special feast), and John was cleansed of original sin in the womb of his mother. This is the dogmatic justification for today’s feast. In the breviary St. Augustine explains the reason for today’s observance in the following words:

“Apart from the most holy solemnity commemorating our Savior’s birth, the Church keeps the birthday of no other person except that of John the Baptist. (The feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin had not yet been introduced.) In the case of other saints or of God’s chosen ones, the Church, as you know, solemnizes the day on which they were reborn to everlasting beatitude after ending the trials of this life and gloriously triumphing over the world.

“For all these the final day of their lives, the day on which they completed their earthly service is honored. But for John the day of his birth, the day on which he began this mortal life is likewise sacred. The reason for this is, of course, that the Lord willed to announce to men His own coming through the Baptist, lest if He appeared suddenly, they would fail to recognize Him. John represented the Old Covenant and the Law. Therefore he preceded the Redeemer, even as the Law preceded and heralded the new dispensation of grace.” [read more]

Father Robert Barron also writes;

The story of the birth of John the Baptist has this dynamism, but the richness of the tale is much more than that of a the domestic story of a child being born. It is the story of the birth of not only a child, but a birth of a whole new world and the end of an old one.

With the birth of John the Baptist, the first rays of the dawn of redemption break upon the world. For in his light we see the One who will be all Light — Jesus the Lord. The coming of the Christ into the world will mean that the old world of sin and death has come to an end and the new world of grace and mercy has begun. [read more]

Readings: Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 138:1-3,13-15; Acts 13:22-26; Luke 1:57-66,80

Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist…