Only three birthdays are celebrated on the Church’s liturgical calendar,

the Nativity of Our Lord ; The Nativity of His Mother ;

and the Nativity of His forerunner, John the Baptist.

Saint John the Baptist was a significant figure connected to the Incarnation and the Redemption. 

 

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Isaiah 49:1-6*

Listen to me,

O islands, pay attention, people from distant lands. Yahweh called me from my mother's womb; he pronounced my name before I was born. (...) He said to me, "You are Israel, my servant, Through you I will be known." "I have labored in vain," I thought, "and spent my strength for nothing." Yet what is due me was in the hand of Yahweh, and my reward was with my God.

 

I am important in the sight of Yahweh, and my God is my strength. And now Yahweh has spoken (...) He said: "It is not enough that you be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, to bring back the remnant of Israel. I will make you the light of the nations, that my salvation will reach to the ends of the earth."

 

Ps 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15 I praise you for I am wonderfully made.

 

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

Acts 13:22-26

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 1:57-66, 80

When the time came for Elizabeth, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the merciful Lord had done a wonderful thing for her, and they rejoiced with her.

 

When, on the eighth day, they came to attend the circumcision of the child, they wanted to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, "Not so; he shall be called John." They said to her, "But no one in your family has that name!" and they made signs to his father for the name he wanted to give him. Zechariah asked for a writing tablet, and wrote on it, "His name is John;" and they were very surprised. Immediately, Zechariah could speak again, and his first words were in praise of God.

 

A holy fear came on all in the neighborhood, and throughout the hill country of Judea the people talked about these events. All who heard of it, pondered in their minds, and wondered, "What will this child be?" For they understood that the hand of the Lord was with him.

As the child grew up, he was seen to be strong in the Spirit; and he lived in the desert until the day when he appeared openly in Israel.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"The Lord is gracious."

John the Baptist, the precursor of our Lord Jesus, was born in spite of the unfavorable conditions surrounding Zechariah and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was barren. Both of them were already old. The Gospel for today narrates the birth of John the Baptist and his consequent naming. The people in their neighborhood wished to name him Zechariah.

 

To name a child after the father's name was one of the most common things to do at that time. However, Elizabeth and Zechariah insisted that the child's name be John. The name John means "the Lord is gracious." Zechariah means "the Lord has remembered." Elisabeth may mean "the promise of my God." The Lord always remembers to fulfill his promise.

 

We may reflect on the kind of life God wants us to have. With the Lord Jesus, whose way John the Baptist prepared, the gracious life with God now becomes accessible to all of us. Furthermore, we are now given an assurance that no matter how unfavorable the conditions surrounding our present life, God will remember to fulfill his promise, penetrating our life like "daybreak from on high" (Lk. 1:78).