Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 18:12-19
Mass: Is 49:1-6; Resp Ps 139; Acts 13:22-26; Lk 1:57-66, 80

I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

As we celebrate the birth of Saint John the Baptist, I am reflecting on the Baptist's words:

HE MUST INCREASE; I MUST DECREASE.

(Jn 3:30)

I offer three quotations for further reflection.

First, from something I read each year on this Solemnity that comes from the Universalis Ltd website:

We envy the great and talented, and sometimes we think that they themselves are beyond envy. But when they come across someone with greater gifts, as one day most of them will, they will see for the first time what it means to feel like us. Let us pray that they, like John the Baptist, may pass that test.

Second, from Basil Hume in Cardinal Basil Hume: In My Own Words:

  As a schoolmaster I learned a very important truth. Looking after boys which was my task, I discovered that every boy between the ages of thirteen and eighteen (which was the age range in which I operated) was in some manner superior to me. He was something I could not be or he could do something which I couldn’t—even if it was only fixing a television set.

And lastly, from the 6th century and St Caesarius of Arles:

Let us become smaller [in ourselves] in order that we may grow in God; let us be humbled in ourselves, in order that we may be exalted in him.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST, PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Lupine