Why Do We Celebrate the Birth of John the Baptist?

In this month’s issue of Magnificat, Father Peter John Cameron, OP, provides a great litany for why we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist.

The nativity of Saint John the Baptist is a sacred reminder of the fact that I need born in my life every day:

* someone who leaps with joy before the presence of the Lord making me want to live my own relationship with Jesus with greater ardor and fervor;

* someone to prepare the way of the Lord and to give me knowledge of salvation through forgiveness of my sins;

* someone who turns my attention away from my distractions and preconceptions so that I will behold the Lamb of God as the true desire of my heart;

* someone who models for me that there is no greater joy in my life than for Jesus to increase and for me to decrease, especially as regards my self-reliance, my self-assertion, my self-importance;

* someone who is a burning and shining lamp whose radiance gives light to my path and courage to my heart, making me want to live for others;

* someone so committed to the truth that he is willing to lay down his life for the Truth-become-flesh - witnessing to me that all true happiness comes through self-sacrifice;

* someone whose sanctity proclaims that there is no man born of woman greater than he is but that I can share his greatness if I love Jesus as he did.

In the tender compassion of our God, the Dawn from on high has broken upon us through the birth of John the Baptist. - Father Peter John Cameron, OP


I read this over and over and found that each time re-reading I was identifying with yet another from Fr Cameron's list of reminders why I need born in my life and every day the birth of John the Baptist.