St John the Baptist – Page 2

Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

O God, who raised up Saint John the Baptist to make ready a nation fit for Christ the Lord, give your people, we pray, the grace of spiritual joys and direct the hearts of all the faithful into the way of salvation and peace.

The key to understanding today’s feast (on a Sunday no less) is the place John the Baptist has in the economy of salvation: making a nation fit for Christ the Lord. Not only was the Baptist a cousin of Jesus’, he opened the doors of salvation by introducing us to His Lord and ours. His encounter with the Messiah is also ours; his dependence on God for everything is also ours. The challenge for us, therefore, is to live as the Baptist lived –with total, unreserved dependence upon God. In Catholic theology and the history of salvation, the Baptist is second only to Mary, the Mother of God in unlocking the door of salvation: Jesus Christ.

The Church celebrates as a feast day few birthdays. They are: the Nativity of Mary, the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, and of course the Nativity of the Lord. Note, too, that we celebrate each of these peoples entrances into heaven.

Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

O God, who willed that Saint John the Baptist should
go ahead of your Son both in birth and in death, grant that as he died a Martyr
for truth and justice, we, too, may fight hard for the confession of what you
teach.

There is no
doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our
Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor
had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep
silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say:
“I am the truth”? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth,
he surely died for Christ.

Through his birth, preaching and baptizing, he bore
witness to the coming birth, preaching and baptism of Christ, and by his own
suffering he showed that Christ also would suffer. Such was the quality and
strength of the man who accepted the end of this present life by shedding his
blood after the long imprisonment. He preached the freedom of heavenly peace,
yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men. He was locked away in the darkness of
prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light of life and deserved to be
called a bright and shining lamp by that Light itself, which is Christ.

Father Pius Parsch

The Church’s Year of Grace

Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

When the Prophet Zechariah was officiating as priest within the Temple, offering up the petitions of the people to the most loving Lord, he beheld an angel who cried out to him, “Your supplication and entreaty have been heard, Be of good cheer, O Elder, and do not disbelieve! For you shall have a child, the Forerunner of God, the greatest of those born of women, who in the power of Elijah will go before the Lord!”

Don’t forget to light a fire in honor of Saint John the Baptist. See the Blessing here.

Asma al-Assad on St John the Baptist

Syria should be on your radar screen if you have an interest in the life of the Church. It’s openness to
Christianity today is startling bad. Freedom of religion and human rights lack;
political oppression and basic needs are always in question. The current regime
very likely nervous given the recent wave of political take-back. John Juliet
Buck’s Vogue magazine article on the Syrian First Lady, Asma al-Assad, “A Rose in
the Desert” speaks to many issues in Syria, not least is religion. Thoughts of
St John the Baptist’s tomb hearken back to when in 2001 Pope John Paul II visited Syria
and prayed at the tomb of the Baptist.

At first thought Ms al-Assad’s deference to the importance of the Baptist is impressive but there’s something that strikes me as false given recent history of her husband’s family’s rule of Syria viz. religious freedom. Plus, her interest in Christianity in Syria is not because the gospel is true, good and beautiful; her interest in the Church is cultural. The gospel in this context has been reduced to a system of culture and ethics –exactly what it’s not. Syria is Indeed, many religions have passed through those lands and one seems fairly certain that the current regime wants religions like Christianity to leave Syria and not turn back. Historically, Christianity has been in Syria since St Paul visited the country. It is the place, as we know, where the followers of Jesus were first called “Christians.” Christians in Syria comprise 10% of the population with the largest group being the Greek Orthodox Church.

For me here’s the relevant paragraph in the article:

Back in the car, Buck was answered about
his investigation “what religion the orphans are?” “It’s not relevant,” says
Asma al-Assad. “Let me try to explain it to you. That church is a part of my
heritage because it’s a Syrian church. The Umayyad Mosque is the
third-most-important holy Muslim site, but within the mosque is the tomb of
Saint John the Baptist. We all kneel in the mosque in front of the tomb of
Saint John the Baptist. That’s how religions live together in Syria–a way that
I have never seen anywhere else in the world. We live side by side, and have
historically. All the religions and cultures that have passed through these
lands–the Armenians, Islam, Christianity, the Umayyads, the Ottomans–make up
who I am.”

Conception of Saint the Baptist

Rejoice, O
barren one, who had not given birth; for the behold you have conceived clearly
the one who is the dawn of eh Sun Who was about illuminate the whole universe,
blighted with sightlessness. Shout in joy, O Zachary, crying in favor, truly,
the one to be born is a Prophet of the High. (Troparion, 4th tone)

On the
Byzantine liturgical calendar, today is the feast of the Conception of Saint
John the Baptist. The Eastern Church, at least the Churches with a Greek
origin, keeps three conception feasts: Our Lord (March 25), Our Lady
(December 9) and the Baptist (September 23). The Latin Church only keeps two.

Calendar study will tell you that
only the Savior has a perfect 9-month gestation period; Our Lady is a day under
(September 8) and the Baptist, a day under (June 24). The liturgical calendar of
the Latin Church places the conception of Mary on December 8, the feast of the
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The theology for today’s feast is rooted in the biblical
narrative of Zachary and Elizabeth, a couple who had no children and therefore
in the eyes of the world plagued by divine disfavor. All of their lives Zachary
and Elizabeth begged God to send them a son. Providence heard their prayer and in His plan and mercy for
all, ordained that the dawn of salvation would be effected by the birth of John
through the agency of the barren Elizabeth. The Church calls John the Prophet
and Forerunner of Jesus, the Savior of the world.

Other significant divinely merciful
births to barren women who are a significant part of the Divine Plan of Salvation are Isaac son of Sarah and Samson born to the wife
of Manoah (Samson’s mother is not named in Scripture).

Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

The Church celebrates as a solemnity the birth of the Savior’s cousin, Saint John the Baptist. It is John who points to Jesus as the “path to salvation” and he teaches us that the encounter with the Lord requires to put aside our sinfulness and to put on purity of heart. It is as Isaiah says in the first reading which is applied to John the Baptist and it ought to be true for us: “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my rights is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.”

At Mass today it struck me that the Lord was baptized by his cousin, John. How amazing is it the Savior was baptized a family member! The Baptist points the way to our salvation in Christ.

Blessing of a Bonfire, the Vigil of the Nativity of St John the Baptist

A long forgotten tradition on the Vigil of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist is the Blessing of a Bonfire. Confusion exists because in some people’s minds the 1964 Roman Ritual was suppressed because it’s absent in the US Bishops’ Book of Blessings but it is advocated for in the Directory on Popular Piety.

Since it’s not seen often in the USA it will be seen as esoteric. But those of concerned with Catholic identity and the flourishing of the sacred Liturgy in parishes, monasteries and religious communities. This blessing is one of the most ancient blessings.

Since St Augustine was the one to establish the feast day of the Baptist’s birth, six months prior to the Savior’s and in the summer solstice after the longest day of the year and when daylight incrementally lessens, a celebration of “light of the World” manifested by the Forerunner, it is an appropriate liturgical observance. Plus, the liturgical catechesis is limitless in this rite.

Because St John the Baptist’s testimony to identity of Jesus as the true light which shines in the darkness of the world, the priest doing this rite can bring together several spiritual “themes” for expanding the heart. One can preach on John as the light-bearer before Christ; “he must increase, but I must decrease”; “I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.”

The Rite

Priest: Our help is in the name of the Lord.

All: Who made heaven and earth.

P: The Lord be with you.

All: May He also be with you.

Let us pray. Lord God, almighty Father, the light that never fails and the source of all light, sanctify + this new fire, and grant that after the darkness of this life we may come unsullied to you who are light eternal; through Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

The fire is sprinkled with holy water; after which the clergy
and the people sing the following hymn Hymn: Ut queant laxis

1. Ut queant laxis resonáre fibris Mira gestórum fámuli tuórum, Solve pollúti lábii reátum, Sancte Joánnes.

2. Núntius celso véniens Olympo Te patri magnum fore nascitúrum, Nomen, et vitae sériem geréndae Ordinae promit.

3. Ille promíssi dúbius supérni, Pérdidit promptae módulos loquélae: Sed reformásti genitus perémptae Organa vocis.

4. Ventris obstrúso récubans cubíli Sénseras Regem thálamo manéntem: Hinc parens nati méritis utérque Abdita pandit.

5. Sit decus Patri, genitaéque Proli et tibi, compare utriúsque virtus, Spíritus semper, Deus unus, omni Témporis aevo. Amen.

(the same in English)

1. O for your spirit, holy John, to chasten Lips sin-polluted, fettered tongues to loosen; So by your children might your deeds of wonder Meetly be chanted.

2. Lo! a swift herald, from the skies descending, Bears to your father promise of your greatness; How he shall name you, what your future story, Duly revealing.

3. Scarcely believing message so transcendent, Him for a season power of speech forsaketh, Till, at your wondrous birth, again returneth, Voice to the voiceless.

4. You, in your mother’s womb all darkly cradled, Knew your great Monarch, biding in His chamber, Whence the two parents, through their offspring’s merits, Mysteries uttered.

5. Praise to the Father, to the Son begotten, And to the Spirit, equal power possessing, One God whose glory, through the lapse of ages, Ever resounding. Amen.

P: There was a man sent from God.

All: Whose name was John.

Let us pray. God, who by reason of the birth of blessed John have made this day praiseworthy, give your people the grace of spiritual joy, and keep the hearts of your faithful fixed on the way that leads to everlasting salvation; through Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

Philip T. Weller, The Roman Ritual (The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, WI, 1964).

Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Elizabeth the wife of Zachary gave birth to a great man, John the Baptist,

the Precursor of the Lord.

O
God, Who has made this day honorable to us by the birth of blessed John, pour
forth upon Thy people the grace of spiritual joys, and direct the souls of all
Thy faithful into the way of eternal salvation.

Baptism of the Lord

Almighty, eternal God, when the Spirit descended upon Jesus at His baptism in the Jordan, You revealed Him as Your own beloved Son. Keep us, Your children born of water and the Spirit, faithful to our calling.
Christ’s Baptism – from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

All the Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus. He begins his public life after having himself baptized by Saint John the Baptist in the Jordan. After His resurrection Christ gives this mission to His apostles: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Our Lord voluntarily submitted Himself to the baptism of Saint John, intended for sinners, in order to “fulfill all righteousness”. Jesus’ gesture is a manifestation of His self-emptying. The Spirit who had hovered over the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ as a prelude of the new creation, and the Father revealed Jesus as His “beloved Son.”

In His Passover Christ opened to all men the fountain of Baptism. He had already spoken of His Passion, which He was about to suffer in Jerusalem, as a “Baptism” with which He had to be baptized. The blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of Baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life. From then on, it is possible “to be born of water and the Spirit” in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

See where you are baptized, see where Baptism comes from, if not from the cross of Christ, from His death. There is the whole mystery: He died for you. In Him you are redeemed, in Him you are saved. (1223-1225)

Advent: the time of our Salvation is nearer

Behold, the great Prophet shall come; and He shall renew Jerusalem, alleluia.

A thrilling voice by rings

Rebuking guilt and darksome things:

Vain dreams of sins and visions fly;

Christ in His might shines forth on high.

Now let each torpid soul arise

That sunk in guilt and wounded lies;

See, the new Star’s refulgent ray

Shall chase disease and sin away.

The Lamb descends from heaven above

To pardon sin with freest love:

For such indulgent mercy shown

With tearful joy our thanks we own.

That when again He shines revealed

And trembling worlds to terror yield,

He give not sin its just reward

But in His love protect and guard.

To God the Father, God the Son,

And God the Spirit, Three in One,

Praise, honor, might and glory be

From age to age eternally. Amen.

V. The voice of one crying in the desert: make ready the way of the Lord.

R. Make straight His paths.

We beseech Thee, O Lord, show forth Thy power and come, that we may deserve to be rescued from the ever-threatening danger of our sins, and be saved by Thy deliverance.