Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Solemnity, June 24

The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, celebrated on June 24th, is one of the oldest and most solemn feasts of the entire liturgical year. It is one of only three birthdays celebrated by the Church, the others being those of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and this distinction alone speaks of the unique greatness of the Forerunner of Christ. The Church does not generally celebrate the physical birthdays of the saints, but only the days of their death, which are their birthdays into eternal life. The fact that John's birth is celebrated is a sign that he was already sanctified in his mother's womb, as the Gospel of Saint Luke narrates.

The sacred narrative of John's birth is one of the most beautiful passages of the New Testament. His father Zechariah was a priest of the temple, and his mother Elizabeth was a kinswoman of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Both were advanced in years and had no children. One day while Zechariah was burning incense at the altar of the temple, the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and announced that Elizabeth would conceive and bear a son who was to be called John. Because Zechariah doubted this announcement, he was struck dumb and remained unable to speak until the day of his son's circumcision.

When Mary, who had just received the Annunciation, visited Elizabeth, the child in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy at the approach of the Lord whom Mary carried. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out, Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. The child in the womb was already confessing Christ before he had drawn his first breath of air. This mystical meeting of the two mothers, one carrying the Son of God and the other carrying His Forerunner, is one of the most tender scenes in all of Scripture.

When John was born, all the neighbourhood rejoiced, for they recognised that the hand of the Lord was with this child. At his circumcision, when his father was asked what the child's name should be, Zechariah asked for a writing tablet and wrote upon it, His name is John. At that moment his tongue was loosed and he poured forth the great canticle of praise and prophecy known as the Benedictus, which the Church sings every morning at Lauds as part of the Divine Office.

John grew up in the deserts, preparing himself in solitude and penance for his great mission. He came forth to preach a baptism of repentance and to prepare the way of the Lord. His birth stands at the turning point of the ages, the moment when the long night of preparation was giving way to the dawn of redemption. The feast of his birth, placed near the summer solstice when the days begin to shorten, is a living commentary on his own words: He must increase; I must decrease.