HOW THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST COMPARES TO OUR PRESENT DAY SITUATION (HOMILY OF THE SOLEMNITY OF THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

HOMILY ON THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST (SOLEMNITY) JUNE 24

Lk 1:57-66, 80

Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the birthday of St. John the Baptist. In the scheme of the calendar of the church, it is the only feast of birth celebrated beside the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ and that of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The date of today's feast came on the benchmark of the choice of date of Christmas which marks the celebration of the nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and of which six months interval stands between the two births. This is evident in the Gospel of Luke 1:26 within the dialogue between the Angel Gabriel and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Angel Gabriel disclosed to Mary that her cousin Elizabeth is in her sixth-month pregnancy. So if Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December, by implication the feast of the birth of John the Baptist is celebrated on the 24th of June. 

In this homily, we shall reflect on how the birth of John the Baptist compares to our present-day situation.

We are told when that “when the time came for Elizabeth to have her child, she gave birth to a Son; and when the neighbours heard that God had shown her such great kindness, they shared her joy” (Lk 1:57). The response of the neighbours says it all, that the birth of a newborn brings joy not just to the family but also to the Society. It is a situation that calls for family togetherness, where loved ones visit physically the parents of the child and the family brings gifts to show gratitude to God and the family for such a wonderful gift of a newborn. It is a situation that establishes the blessings of God and the joy in the population growth of humanity. However, the irony is that the joy perceived at the birth of a newborn is gradually diminishing in our own time, most especially in the towns and cities. People are becoming disenchanted with the birth of a child. That elation at the birth of a child is dying out. This is sad because couples these days do not cherish primarily the birth and raising of a child after marriage. Some couples get married and prefer to welcome a child deliberately after so many years of marriage because they feel that conceiving and raising a child is burdensome psychologically and financially. Consequently, dampening the primary need of a child in the family. Their profession takes precedence over the goods of marriage. Even animals as pets are now being preferred over children in marital homes. This is rather unfortunate. That enthusiasm of being privileged to add to the population growth of humanity is no more there. These days the interest to prevent the occurrence of pregnancy within marriage is exceedingly high. Many countries now champion population control policies and the introduction of the means of terminating the life of the unborn via abortion etc. This is a sharp contrast to how the birth of children was celebrated in the days of old.

Again we are told of how the relatives desired to give him the name after his father Zachariah and then how the mother objected, saying he will be called John, and then finally the father who had speech impediment got healed at the writing of the name John on a tablet. Central to this is the significance of naming a child. The value of the name does matter internally. At the name ‘John’, the father regained his speech and we are told that the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel (Lk:80). These days the name given by parents to the newborn child is quite laughable. The names carry no value with them, they are either meaningless or senseless so much so that even the child does not derive any sense of identity or value from the name. This is the reason why the church recommends that parents give their children names that are of great value and are borne by saints who are models for the children. 

Dearest friends in Christ, the narrative of the birth of John the Baptist, reaffirms the place of the parents in the life of the newborn. Parents must be responsible not just for bringing forth a new life but also as first educators of the child, caring primarily for the growth of the child. So that under the tenets of the parents the child may grow into full Christian maturity in the service of God and humanity.

May God bless our parents with the needful graces to live up to their vocation of proper parenting of the children. May they never grow weary or discomfort in the care they show to their children and may the children bring solace and fruitfulness to the families. Amen

Have a grace-filled day!

Fr Remi osj