Thursday, July 22, 2010

Homily for the Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist

Most Roman Catholic Churches throughout the world this weekend will gather to celebrate something which each and every one of has the privilege of celebrating each year, namely, a birthday. In a particular way our Archdiocese has a special reason for celebrating this birthday because it is the birthday of the Patron saint of our archdiocese-St. John the Baptist. But what does it mean for us to celebrate the birth of St. John the Baptist?
> In the Gospel the relatives of John ask the following question: “What then will this child become?” We celebrate the Birth of John the Baptist by helping one another answer this same question about ourselves.
> Today we celebrate the birth of a child, a child who has been entrusted with a very noble and humbling task, namely, the baptism of Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. In responding to his own vocation, St. John the Baptist has paved the way for countless generations of Christians to experience the ripple effect of Christ’s baptism which was received at his hands.
> The neighborhood in which John was born did not help him to realize his divine calling. In fact they wanted to prevent John from receiving his God-given name and identity. They wanted to give him his father’s name “Zechariah.” They objected to his being named John because “None of his relatives had that name” (Luke 1:61). For them what a child could be was determined by what his family and lineage had been. Their dream of a wonderful future for this child was limited by his family background. But God’s dream for us far exceeds anything that has been in our family background. The words from the song: Only a Shadow really hit the target, “The dream I have today, my Lord, is only a shadow of your dreams for me.” Our life’s work is to prayerfully find out what that glorious dream is and respond to it with generosity and obedience.
> Are we open to the movement of God’s Spirit in the lives of the children in our community? Do we point out the talents of the young people in our community so as to encourage them to use them for God’s glory rather than their own glory?
> Each great journey begins with one footstep. So from life’s earliest beginnings in the womb, we see such a beginning as a cause for rejoicing. Throughout the readings for today’s Holy Mass we find words that affirm the sanctity of human life from the very moment of conception within the mother’s womb. A mother is the first hospitality minister that any child will encounter in life. We are a people that celebrate the life of each new born baby as a possible herald of the good news of Jesus Christ. Each human life is a gift from God, a gift which when unwrapped has the power to reveal the vibrant face of God. As Roman Catholics we are a people who are pro-life because we are pro-Jesus, who is Life itself. Today we rejoice in the generosity of God who shares his life with us. Each of us has received life from God as a favor and each of us has the capacity for greatness, a greatness that is measured by charity and not title.
> As Christians we are in the world, but we are not of the world. God has placed a seed of holiness within each human heart, a seed which must be tended to by every child’s’ parents and by extension the whole Christian community.
> As a Christian community do we recognize that we are a people who have the call of God upon us? Each person here is called by God to a life of holiness. Within that call to holiness we each have a specific calling through which we should live out that holiness so as to further spread the message of the Gospel, the only message that grants eternal life.
> It is from our baptism that our vocation in life flows forth quenching the thirst that each of us has with regard to how we should live our lives and for what particular purpose. It is in our baptism that we find the answer to the question: “What then will this child become?” In baptism each of us has entered into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which enables and empowers us to live out our particular call to holiness.
> A vocation is a calling, not a choosing. We do not choose a vocation, we respond to it. A vocation is a gift; it is the way in which we are able to respond to the need for personal holiness that God has planted deeply within the soil of our souls.
> Each of us has been divinely willed into existence and though God does not need any of us he has willed to need us in the plan of salvation. Our vocation is not for us alone, rather we must be good stewards of our calling. Each of us has a calling from God, each of our vocations serve as a piece of the overall puzzle of salvation. As we surrender to our vocation in life, the picture that is present within the puzzle of salvation becomes overwhelmingly clear to such an extent that others are awestruck by the beauty of God’s plan of salvation.
> The Baptism of Jesus has and continues to have a ripple effect upon countless generations of believers. 28 years ago today on the feast of John the Baptist’s birth I was baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the priestly vocation to which I am seeking to respond has come from those peaceful waters which flowed over the head of Jesus by the hands of St. John the Baptist.
> There are times, however, when we would like to run from our vocation in life, because of the particular circumstances of our lives. We are called to live with the reality that each of us has come from God and that ultimately with death we will all return to God. Knowing this reality would we not want to maintain a spirit of focus and build up treasure in heaven where no moth can destroy nor thieves break in and steal?
> In answering my own particular vocation which at times is very difficult because of my own sense of inadequacy I too feel like running away. In the midst of these struggles, however, I find great assurance in the truth of scripture which states that “God qualifies those whom he calls, rather than calling those who are qualified,” and that “the will of God will never take us anywhere that the grace of God will not sustain us.
> Each time we pray the Our Father we say in humble submission: “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In praying these words we are welcoming the will of God in our lives by acknowledging that God is calling us to a specific task. We are a people who submit our lives to God in the sure and certain hope that he is the lover of souls, the one whose wishes for us are greater than the ones we have for ourselves.
> Each vocation is a calling to bear fruit that will provide nourishment for the whole Christian community. In this celebration of the Holy Eucharist let us implore the intercession of St. John the Baptist for all the members of our parish and archdiocese that we may know our vocation with clarity of vision and have generosity of heart in responding to it.

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