June 24, 2011
Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
By Melanie Rigney
Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The Lord called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name. He made me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. (Isaiah 49:1-2)
I praise you, for I am wonderfully made. (Psalms 139:14)
“… (A) s John was completing his course, he would say, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.’” (Acts 13:25)
(All who heard about Zechariah’s speech being restored after he wrote that the son would be named John said,) “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel. (Luke 1:66, 80)
Piety
Lord, I can hardly believe You trust me to prepare the way for Your Word in my life today. I am so unworthy. Please hold my hand and light the path.
Could Jesus have come without John’s voice in the wilderness?
God being God, He could have sent His Son without someone to foretell the coming, notwithstanding the prophecies in the Old Testament. But He chose to send John first.
And sometimes, He chooses to send us first. And how will we respond?
Most of the people in the world don’t believe in the risen Christ. Many people in our own country or neighborhood or workplace don’t. That doesn’t make them bad people. It does present us with the opportunity of being John the Baptist to them, and that doesn’t mean baptizing them in water or becoming a street-corner evangelist.
It means being open about our faith when a coworker asks why we have ashes on our forehead on Ash Wednesday.
It means asking a neighbor or friend to accompany us when we package or deliver food or medicine or other supplies for the homeless, the ill, and those in need in other ways.
It means telling an acquaintance in distress that we’ll pray for him or her… and then doing it and following up in a few days or weeks to see what’s going on.
In sum, it means letting others see what a faith life lived openly and confidently looks like. We may not be there when they fully embrace Christ. That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we use the voice with which God gave us, in whatever form that gift comes.
Action
What will you do today to prepare the Way?
