Happy Birthday, Saint John the Baptist!
The Catholic Church celebrates the Nativity of John the Baptist on June 24.
Here are 12 things to know and share about the life of Saint John the Baptist in honor of this special celebration:
1) Saint John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ before He began His public ministry.
From the womb, God set him apart as a primary figure in His plan for salvation!
2) He baptized Jesus Christ.
“Looking at the events (of Christ’s baptism) in light of the Cross and Resurrection, the Christian people realized what happened: Jesus loaded the burden of all mankind’s guilt upon his shoulders; he bore it down into the depths of the Jordan” - Pope Benedict XVI
3) His mother is Saint Elizabeth, a relative of the Virgin Mary and wife of Saint Zechariah.
Saint John the Baptist's mother believed she would never have children before the Lord answered her prayers for a son.
4) We do not know the exact date of Saint John the Baptist’s birth, but the Church celebrates his Nativity on June 24.
The Church bases this celebration on the Annunciation (March 25). Scripture says Saint John’s mother was in her sixth month of pregnancy when the angel appeared to Mary. (Luke 1:26-27)
5) The Gospel of Saint Luke references the birth of Saint John the Baptist in Luke 1:57-60.
His is one of three birthdays celebrated on the Church’s liturgical calendar. The other two are Jesus' birth and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
6) He leaped in his mother’s womb at the Visitation.
The first person to recognize the child Jesus was an unborn Saint John the Baptist!
7) He lived as a hermit in the desert before undertaking his ministry.
Saint John the Baptist’s ministry ended with his martyrdom at Herod’s orders.
8) He wore camel hair.
Camel hair clothing was rough, uncomfortable, and absolutely anti–trend. John deliberately chose a simple, penitential lifestyle.
9) He ate locusts and wild honey.
Locusts and wild honey point to poverty, detachment, and a life lived in direct contact with God’s creation.
10) He cried out in the desert.
He was “crying out in the desert,” in an uncomfortable, seemingly irrelevant place… and yet people went out to find him.
11) He was the last great prophet before Jesus came.
Saint John the Baptist is the bridge between the Old and New Testaments. He is the last great prophet before the coming of the Messiah, the final voice crying out: “Prepare the way of the Lord!”
12) He shows us how to decrease so Christ can increase.
“He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30) summarizes John’s whole mission. As the Church celebrates his birth just as the days begin to shorten, we remember that our vocation is to let Christ’s light grow brighter while our ego steps back.
Here is a special prayer for the intercession of Saint John the Baptist:
O God, who hast made this day to be honorable in our eyes by the commemoration of blessed John the Baptist, grant unto Thy people the grace of spiritual joy, and direct the minds of all Thy faithful into the way of everlasting salvation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.