A friend shared this on Facebook today: I find it so full of food for reflection and inspiration that I want to share it more widely in the few hours left of the Feast! John the Baptist featured in my journey into religious life more than twenty years ago, and still reappears from time to time, reminding me of the essentials. It's good to still have him around!
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist is a sacred reminder of the fact that I need born in my life every day:
- Someone who leaps with joy before the presence of the Lord, making me want to live my own relationship with Jesus with greater ardour and fervour;
- Someone to prepare the way of the Lord and to give me knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of my sins;
- Someone who turns my attention away from my distractions and preconceptions so that I will behold the Lamb of God as the true desire of my heart;
- Someone who models for me that there is no greater joy in my life than for Jesus to increase and for me to decrease, especially as regards my self-reliance, my self-assertion, my self-importance;
- Someone who is a burning and shining lamp whose radiance gives light to my path and courage to my heart, making me want to live for others;
- Someone so committed to the truth that they are willing to lay down their life for the Truth-become-flesh, witnessing to me that all true happiness comes through self-sacrifice;
- Someone whose sanctity proclaims that there is a man born of woman greater than us, but that I can share his greatness if I love Jesus as John did.
In the tender compassion of our God, the Dawn from on high has broken upon us through the birth of John the Baptist.
(Fr. Peter John Cameron OP)
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist is a sacred reminder of the fact that I need born in my life every day:
- Someone who leaps with joy before the presence of the Lord, making me want to live my own relationship with Jesus with greater ardour and fervour;
- Someone to prepare the way of the Lord and to give me knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of my sins;
- Someone who turns my attention away from my distractions and preconceptions so that I will behold the Lamb of God as the true desire of my heart;
- Someone who models for me that there is no greater joy in my life than for Jesus to increase and for me to decrease, especially as regards my self-reliance, my self-assertion, my self-importance;
- Someone who is a burning and shining lamp whose radiance gives light to my path and courage to my heart, making me want to live for others;- Someone so committed to the truth that they are willing to lay down their life for the Truth-become-flesh, witnessing to me that all true happiness comes through self-sacrifice;
- Someone whose sanctity proclaims that there is a man born of woman greater than us, but that I can share his greatness if I love Jesus as John did.
In the tender compassion of our God, the Dawn from on high has broken upon us through the birth of John the Baptist.
(Fr. Peter John Cameron OP)
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