BORN FOR A CAUSE.
June 24, 2023.
Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.
“A man was sent from God, whose name was John. He came to
testify to the light, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.” Cf. Jn 1, 6-7; Lk
1, 17.
A Romanian proverb says: “No man is born into the world,
whose work is not born with him.” And an Albanian proverb adds: “What a man can
be is born with him; what he becomes is a result of his environment.”
There is a purpose, a cause for everyone's life. No one is
on earth for nothing. God has not created you just for the sake of creation. He
created you for a reason. Your life is for a cause. What matters is to discover
that cause, the inner purpose of your life, and live accordingly.
Born six months before Our Lord, St. John, the Son of
Zechariah and Elizabeth was the last and greatest of the prophets. His birth,
as well as his life, were oriented, aimed at something special. As the
forerunner of the Savior, he was to prepare the Jews for the Advent of Christ.
When Christ had come, St. John bore witness to him and encouraged his own
disciples to follow him. He is someone who knew and understood well his mission
and the purpose of his life.
"John the Baptist is "more than a prophet." In
him, the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through the prophets. John
completes the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah. He proclaims the imminence of
the consolation of Israel; he is the "voice" of the Consoler who is
coming. As the Spirit of truth will also do, John "came to bear witness to
the light." In John's sight, the Spirit thus brings to completion the
careful search of the prophets and fulfills the longing of the angels. "He
on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the
Holy Spirit. and I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of
God... Behold, the Lamb of God."" CCC 719
The Word of God depicts the life of a chosen one. It shows
that the one who really is at work and decides everything and orients all
things is God. He is the one who made Isaiah his Prophet. He is the one who
raised a child from Elizabeth and Zechariah and will make him his great
prophet. Like Jeremiah, Isaiah, and John, the life of every Prophet is in the
hands of the Lord. We, too, our lives are in his hands.
The first reading tells of the vocation of Isaiah; a
faithful servant the Lord chose to be the light of all peoples. He was told by
the Lord that his life, his mission, and his destiny were known beforehand by Him. "The Lord called me before I was born,
from my mother’s womb he pronounced my name." His mission, raise up the
tribes of Jacob, restore the preserved of Israel, and be a light to the nations
so that God's salvation may reach the end of the earth.
This mission of Isaiah is somehow the announcement of the
vocation and mission of John the Son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. He was sent to
testify to the light. Though he, himself, clarified that he was not the light
that was to come into the world, John's life illuminated and drew people back
to God. With his birth, a new era has dawned. He announced the time of
fulfillment. All the divine promises came to an end. Nothing was left to be
waited for. John was the last and the greatest of all the Prophets. With his
birth that we commemorate today, the true prophetic time has begun for all to
be completed. In that sense, we could say, if Jesus is the Consummatum of Love,
John stands as the Consummatum of the Prophecies and of the Prophetic Time.
Thus, at his birth, his father Zechariah can exult: "And you, little
child, you shall be called Prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the
Lord to prepare a way for him, to give his people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins..." Lk 1:76-77
John's mission was manifest at his birth, to be a Prophet.
And even his name was for a cause, "God is gracious." Because in him
and through him, Zechariah and Elizabeth were graced by God.
May we close our meditation with this question the people
asked about John: “What, then, will this child be?” (Luke 1:66). If we follow
John’s example, this question could also be ours: What then are we going to be?
Like John, may we all become heralds of the truth, proclaimers of peace,
restorers of hope, and people who freely and happily point to Jesus, the source
and reason of our lives and salvation.
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