The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Today is the feast of St. John the Baptist. Who is he? And what can we learn from his example?
He is a man of great intimacy with God. Throughout the readings today (indeed, the entire responsorial psalm) speaks to a God who maintains a deeply intimate relationship with his people to the point where He knows, "...when I sit and when I stand;" and, "with all my ways (God is) familiar." When we think of St. John the Baptist, we more often think of a wild, brash, bold character calling out the religious elites of his time and compelling people to repent from their sins. However, it is clear, especially in today's Gospel and throughout the readings, that there is an intimacy with God that is present from the very moment John is formed in the womb; an intimacy that we share.
St. John is also a man of great purpose. There are many times in life when we question if what we are doing has any meaning or ultimate purpose, or if we are even making any progress toward something meaningful for our grand efforts. The first reading gives us a resounding answer to these doubts, saying "Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God." The readings today and the life of St. John the Baptist make it clear we have a part to play to prepare Jesus' way in the world: the way into people's hearts, the way into our culture and in society, the way into our own lives and the lives of our families.
And how do we do this? By following popular opinion and in quiet desperation? Absolutely not! Even in his naming, St. John the Baptist goes against the conventional wisdom through his father, Zechariah. There is a boldness and courage in St. John that is wildly attractive. I would submit the reason it is so attractive is because it stands out as a testament to his purpose and is rooted in his intimacy with God, who is truth itself. Rather than succumbing to the intimidation of the world, we need to stand courageously for our mission and purpose as St. John did, so that others say about us as they did about John, "What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him (or her)."