John the Baptist is a towering figure in the history of our salvation. His importance is amply attested by
all four Gospels and also the Acts of the Apostles. It is difficult to imagine the development of
Jesus’ earthly history without John’s presence and ministry from the very
beginning. John’s intimate involvement in Jesus’ life and destiny, and the
significance of John’s ardent devotion to his slightly younger cousin (who also
happened to be the Son of God), are perhaps the outstanding instance of how
Jesus brought us salvation by meshing his divine life inextricably with our
human existence. How I would
love to allow my own destiny to become as totally bound up with that of Jesus
as was John the Baptist’s! Is not this
an excellent definition of “sanctity”: for one’s life to be wholly intertwined
with Christ’s and lost with his in God? So
closely united was John’s earthly life to Jesus’ work of sanctification that he
is the only saint besides the Mother of God whose biological birth into this
world the Church celebrates as a resplendent work of nature and grace,
inseparably, and as a turning point in salvation history. So essential is
John’s role in manifesting the presence of the Incarnate Word to the world that
his apprenticeship as a prophet and evangelist begins already in his mother’s
womb, and this baby’s first (wordless) sermon consists in a mighty leap of joy
at sensing the approach of God’s Holy One.
As
we go about our daily activities of prayer, lectio divina, work and fraternal
relations, may we like John learn how to leap instinctively with
joy at the approach of Jesus. If this becomes a blessed
habit, we will then be allowing one another, and the whole world, to feel the
presence in our midst of the One who alone brings us peace and lasting unity
and evergreen freshness of life. The
heart of the Baptist’s vocation coincides precisely with our own vocation as
monks. In a moving self-portrait John
says: “He who has the bride is
the Bridegroom; the friend of the Bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices
greatly at the Bridegroom’s voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease.” These
are clearly the words of one who is on fire with love and who wants to make all
others fall in love with the same Beloved.
Reflection by Father Simeon.
