Birth of St. John, The Baptist, June, 24 2026
Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint
John the Baptist.
First Reading
From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Listen to me, O islands; hear me, distant peoples.
The Lord called me from my mother's womb; while I was still in my mother's womb, He pronounced my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me a polished arrow and kept me in His quiver, and He said to me:
“You are my servant, Israel; in you I will reveal my glory.”
Then I thought:
“I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing.”
Yet my cause was in the hands of the Lord, and my reward was with my God.
Now the Lord speaks, He who formed me in the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him and gather Israel around Him. The Lord honored me greatly, and my God became my strength.
And now the Lord says:
“It is too little that you should be my servant only to restore the tribes of Jacob and gather the survivors of Israel. I will make you a light to the nations, so that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.”
The Word of the Lord.
Second Reading
From the Acts of the Apostles
In those days, Paul said to the Jews:
“Brothers, God gave our fathers David as king, and of him He gave this testimony:
‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my plans.’
From the descendants of David, according to His promise, God brought forth for Israel a Savior: Jesus.
John prepared His coming by preaching to all the people of Israel a baptism of repentance. And toward the end of his life, John would say:
‘I am not the one you think I am. After me comes One whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’
My brothers, descendants of Abraham and all who fear God, this message of salvation has been sent to you.”
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
From the Holy Gospel According to Saint Luke
The time came for Elizabeth* to give birth, and she bore a son. When her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her such great mercy, they rejoiced with her.
On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child and wanted to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother objected, saying:
“No, his name shall be John.”
They replied:
“But none of your relatives has that name.”
Then they made signs to the father, asking what he wanted the child to be called. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote:
“John is his name.”
Everyone was amazed.
Immediately Zechariah's tongue was loosened, his speech returned, and he began praising God. Fear came upon all their neighbors, and throughout the hill country of Judea people spoke about these events.
All who heard about them wondered:
“What then will this child become?”
For indeed, the hand of God was with him.
The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the desert until the day he revealed himself to Israel.
The Gospel of the Lord.
* "And
behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a
son..."
— Gospel of Luke
The Greek word used to express, "relative," in the original texts is, “syngenis,” which means a relative, kinswoman, or member of the same extended family. But it does not specify the exact relationship.
Because Elizabeth was from the priestly line of Aaron (Luke 1:5) and Mary was from the house of David (Luke 1:27), some have wondered how they could be related. This is not difficult to explain, since Jewish families could be connected through marriage or through a maternal line.
Over the centuries, Christians have suggested various possibilities for the reationship between Mary and Elizabeth:
Cousins
Aunt and niece
Sonething more distant
But Scripture does not tell us exactly.
What we can say with confidence, based on what Scripture says, is:
Elizabeth was an older woman, and a fairly close relative of Mary.
Elizabeth was the mother of John the Baptist.
Mary was the mother of Jesus Christ.
Their pregnancies overlapped, and Mary visited Elizabeth for about three months
(Luke 1:39–56).
So the traditional statement that ,"Elizabeth was Mary's cousin" is a reasonable assumption, but it is not explicitly stated in the Bible. The Bible only says they were obviously closely connected relatives, but their exact relationship will never be known.
Homily and Reflection
Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Birth of John
the Baptist.
All we know about John the Baptist is that he was
Jesus' relative, likely a cousin - and extraordinary things
happened surrounding his birth.
- At the Annunciation, when the
angel appeared to Mary, she was also told that her relation Elizabeth
– an elderly woman who had been called barren—was expecting a
child.
- Mary then went to visit her and remained with her for 3 months until the birth of John.
- At the same time, Elizabeth's husband, Zechariah was told by Gabriel, the Angel, that his wife was pregnant. He did not believe it at first, becasue they were both quite old, and he was made mute for doubting God's plans until the day his son was born.
All of this helps us understand a phrase that I often like to repeat:
“The hand of God has always been here.”
It is very important that we learn to accept and read our lives as a history that leads to our place in The Kingdom of God, with an accompanying salvation legacy. It is important that we look in at our life, and learn to say:
“The hand of God
has been here.”
The asnwer is - Yes. We
all go through very difficult moments in life, and have
experienced many things — some beautiful, but others not so
beautiful. But either way, we must always say:
Consider St. Maximilian Kolbe for a moment... He was a priest taken by the Nazi's for his acts of mercy and his refusal to stop publishing anti-Nazi writings. Eventually, he was imprisoned in an Auschwitz starvation bunker, where this martyr did not curse his executioners. Instead he sang hymns, prayed, blessed and absolved sins - and praised God - using his final days to lead fellow prisoners in worship. He knew that he must die one day, some way – that is part of Gods plan for all of us.
So what did he do? He fufilled his part in Gods Kingdom. And how many of those unfortunate souls would have died without the solace and reconciliation he brought them? That was part of the plan, too. And that's the point.
Stay With The Plan
I often speak about not interrupting God's plans. If God wants
something to happen, then it must happen. Kolbe could have simply
tossed in the towel and given up – blaming God.
We human beings are
like that. We even seem to enjoy opposing God's plans. We'll say
things like:
“I'm not going to go along with that....”
“This can't happen.”
“That shouldn't be done.”
Instead, we should do as Kolbe did - bring it before the Lord.
Ask Him. Consult the Lord, lest you find yourself opposing His
plans. Of course, no one can fight against God. Yet, we can
say that many times things do not happen because we won't
cooperate with what God intends.
God has the power. God is in
control. No one can ultimately fight against God. Yet God desires our
cooperation. He respects our freedom and invites our participation.
We can choose:
To do good or evil.
To cooperate with grace or reject it.
To allow God to work through us or to resist him.
Again, think of Kolbe and how he went about his part in the Kingdom....
Therefore, on this Solemnity, all the events surrounding John's birth invite us to reflect:
“Am I placing myself in God's hands and allowing Him to do His work?”
Our role is not to control everything. Our role is to choose the
good and allow God to be God.We might ask it this way: “If He has
permitted this illness, if He has allowed this or that situation...,
if He has included this in what is ultimately my part in His
Kingdom, then God has a plan."
So, rather than spending our energy
complaining or despairing, we should ask:
"Lord, what are you doing through this situation? I will
choose to let You do what You need to do. I will allow God to be God,
and my life in His hands.”
Stop Whining
So let us not
spend our time complaining. Let us not sit around lamenting, fussing
and carrying on about how God has forsaken us. Instead, sit and think
about God.
Period.
I want this message to sink in because we are human, and that
means at times we are end up trapped in very
negative thinking.
Human beings today are easily burdened
mentally, because we constantly focus on negative thoughts. We
associate everything with what is negative. We live with a constant
focus on pain, sickness, bad endings, bad people, bad situations,
disasters, even death.
We see it in in our culture, movies, music, social
medias.... why, we even love what amounts to a “death culture”
these days. Just wait til Halloween rolls around and you'll see.
As
a result, our minds are trained to expect the worst, and we spend our
lives thinking about what is wrong with anything - and everything.
Trust in Gods plan for His Kingdom, however, calls us to see
differently.
Instead of saying: "Everything is going wrong," we can say: "The hand of God is at work here."
That does not mean suffering is pleasant, in and of itself. It means that God can bring about purpose, grace, and salvation even through difficult circumstances. So we must say: “I am going to let God act. Things are happening that may not be pleasant, or what I would prefer, but I'm going to say..., The hand of God is present in all of this, and everything ultimately fulfills that purpose. Everything is part of the tapestry that becomes my story in Gods Kingdom.'”
What Will Be The
Ouotcome?
Along these lines, we should stop for a
moment and recall one of the most beautiful lines in today's Gospel.
When the people around Elizabeth and Zechariah marveled at all that
had happened with this child, John, they asked: “What then will
this child become?”
Why?
- Because they saw that Elizabeth was willing. She
believed and conceived.
- They knew that Mary was willing. She
believed the message and visited her cousin.
- Then Zechariah,
though he doubted at first, eventually became willing and believed.
At the child's birth he gave him the name John, exactly as the
angel had instructed, and he praised God with a beautiful
prayer...even though he had been made mute for doubting the action of
God in his life.
Because they were open to God's will, others were amazed by what God accomplished through them. The same can happen in our lives.
When we surrender ourselves to God, people may look at us and wonder:
What will become of this person?
What will God do through this family?
What will God accomplish in this situation?
The answer is simple: The hand of God is there.
The Takeaway
Today, let us place our lives
completely in God's hands.
- Trust him.
- Listen to his word.
- Cooperate with his grace.
- And when challenges arise, remember: The hand of God has always been here.
Leave everything in the Lord's hands, and you will see him act in your life, guide you, strengthen you, and help you through.
✠✠✠
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
The Lord be with you.
✠ And may the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit descend upon you and remain with you always.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
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