Today we celebrate the feast of the
Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Each one of us also has a nativity. To each
one of us, as to John the Baptist, God says to us through the prophet Jeremiah,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew
you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed
you ” ( Jeremiah 1: 4-10, the first reading of the Vigil Mass for John the
Baptist). John the Baptist, as we know, was filled with the Holy Spirit within
his mother’s womb, when Mary came to visit his mother, Elizabeth. Mary and Elizabeth ministered to one another
and in turn to John. Each one’s vocation, mission in life, came to be in ways
that were mysterious and challenging. Elizabeth was barren, advanced in years,
felt humiliated by not bearing Zachary any children and was now beyond child-bearing years. Mary was called to be the
mother of God and she was dumbfounded: how could this be; she had had no
relations with a man. And John the Baptist, who is to prepare the way for the Messiah,
is yet unborn!
Every one is known to God before God
forms us in the womb. Every one of us is dedicated to the Lord in the womb,
appointed for a special mission that bring others to the Lord, that opens their
lives to the Spirit, that empowers them to recognize God’s gift of eternal
salvation, that prepares them to carry out the mission Jesus entrusted to us
from the cross: “Woman, behold your son; son behold your mother.” We are all
called to be brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers to one another, to build
a kingdom of justice in this world, to make the world a better place with God at its center.
In what ways has/is God preparing
you for your mission? In what ways are you leading others to Christ, to the
Messiah? In what ways are you building His Kingdom of love, justice, and mercy
on this earth?
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