There are three paintings that
depict a young St John the Baptist which are favorites of mine for different
reasons. They are all by the Spanish painter Esteban Bartolome’ Murillo and
they show John the Baptist as a little boy, John always being accompanied by a
little lamb, symbolizing his famous words “Behold the Lamb of God,” the phrase
he used to welcome Jesus when he came to the Jordan River to be baptized by
him. The other two paintings are of John by himself, again both of them with
the lamb next to him. Today the Catholic Church celebrates his birth, and that
is why we use the color white in our vestments. John is regarded as the last
prophet of the Old Testament, while some refer to him as the first martyr of
the New Testament, and we do have a commemoration of his martyrdom on August
29, but it’s his mysterious birth that is celebrated today, since Elizabeth his
mother was advanced in age. John the Baptist as a prophet had a tough role to
play - to point out the sins which were keeping the people from truly knowing,
loving and serving God. He prepared the way of the Lord by calling people to
lives of repentance. His role was to prepare the way of the Lord, setting the
stage for Jesus’ arrival - doing all the rough work and then disappear, getting
hardly any credit. But that was his role and never complained about it. In
the Gospel of John the Evangelist (Jn 3:30,) we read that John the Baptist said
about Jesus: “He must increase, while I must decrease.” This is very indicative
of what will happen after Jesus’ baptism. Jesus became well known, while John
disappeared in the background. Yet while the popularity of Jesus increased,
John faded away, and we see him again being arrested and then being beheaded by
Herod. Yet there is another interesting twist to the phrase “He must increase
and I must decrease.” John’s birthday falls close to the summer solstice, one
of the longest days of the year, and from now on, the days will start decreasing,
leading to one of the shortest days of the year, which is Christmas, the
birthday of Jesus, close to the winter’s solstice, and from then on, the days
will start getting longer. “I must decrease, while He must increase.” It’s a
notion worth adapting to in our daily lives - we must decrease our yearnings,
our dreams, our wishes, while we should let Him increase in us, increasing our
potential to love, increase our prayer life, our devotion to duty, our
commitment to our faith. This is the message the church wants us to remember
this weekend. We can obviously decrease the clutter from our lives and increase
the goodness that is certainly already in your heart.
Monday 24 June 2024
Birth of John the Baptist
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