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The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist: Feast Day June 24th

Did you know that the Church only celebrates three birthdays on the liturgical calendar? Christmas—the Lord's birthday, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Sept. 8th), and the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24th). When we think about this, we are reminded that Jesus said, “All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John” (Matthew 11:13). Saint John the Baptist is the last great prophet, the prophet to come before the Lord. We hear John the Baptist proclaim, "He must increase; I must decrease" (John 3:30). As we celebrate the birthday of Saint John the Baptist today, let’s reflect on his boldness, yet even more his humility. John the Baptist was bold in proclaiming the word of God and preparing people for the coming of Jesus, yet I believe his humility is even more powerful. Everything he did, he did for the glory of God, not for his own glory. He had a growing following, he was known throughout the land, yet he proclaimed, “I must decrease.” John the Baptist had no qualms with stepping away from the limelight, from recognizing that his mission was to follow and adhere to the will of God. Are we bold, yet even more importantly, humble like Saint John the Baptist? Can he serve as an inspiration for us as we think about what our purpose is for doing something? Saint John the Baptist, pray that we may have the courage to be bold in doing the mission God has created just for us and to listen to and follow his will, and pray that we will have the humility to recognize that everything we do and/or accomplish is because of God’s grace and should, therefore, glorify Him, not our own ego or pride. Amen.

Celebrating with a Food-Craft:

Since John the Baptist would grow up and eat locusts and wild honey, for a fun birthday treat make tasty fruit and vegetable bugs. “Good Housekeeping” has great ideas/recipes you can use for inspiration. You can even get creative and invent your own creepy-crawly snacks. I couldn’t resist using the word “creepy,” because I gotta say I love how the mini-series “The Chosen” calls Saint John the Baptist “Creepy John.” 




Celebrating with a Prayer:

Here is a prayer I wrote that you and your family can say together. You can even print it out and decorate around the words with pieces of construction paper to make it have a collage/mosaic appearance, or draw and color pictures and/or designs. Here is a printable version.

Oh, John the Baptist, how blessed you were! Friend and cousin to the Son of God, the voice crying out in the wilderness, proclaiming the way of the Lord; courageous, not caring what others or the world thought of you, and above all humble to the Son of God and the will of the Father. Pray for us, that we may be courageous, like you, in proclaiming the word of God; that we may live apart from the world, knowing our true home is not of this world, and humble, so we may hear the word of God whispering to our souls. Saint John the Baptist, ever an inspiration in these difficult times, pray for us and for the world. Amen.

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