Luke 1: 57-66
Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Increase the Presence of Christ
John the Baptist was as close to a child prodigy as one could be in Judea. His father was a priest, so he was well known within the community, and the events described in today’s Gospel only furthered the fame and expectations for this child. Certainly growing up we can imagine John constantly being reminded of the wonderful events surrounding his birth and how he was destined for great things. Yet, we can trust by how John acts later in life that all these praises and expectations never interested him. For he went out into the desert and called people to repent and follow not him but someone greater than him.
Ignatius teaches in the Exercises that the Evil Spirit first tempts us to riches, which leads to becoming desirous of honors, and which then ends in the great sin of pride. But John the Baptist thwarts the evil spirits' temptations. His famous words were, “He must increase, I must decrease.” In these last days before Christmas let us follow John’s example by decreasing our own egos and increasing the presence of Christ in our lives and those around us.
—Benjamin Rogers, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic of the Midwest Province studying philosophy at Loyola University Chicago.
Prayer
Saint John the Baptist, greatest prophet among those born of woman, although you were sanctified in your mother’s womb and led a most innocent life, nevertheless it was your will to retire into the wilderness, there to devote yourself to the practice of austerity and penance. Obtain for us from your Lord the grace to be wholly detached, at least in our hearts, from earthly goods, and to practice Christian mortification with interior recollection and the spirit of holy prayer.
—Prayer to St. John the Baptist
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Pray with the monthly prayer intentions of the pope.