Our feelings of piety and devotion bid us rejoice today in
the birth of Saint John the Baptist. He was chosen by God to come and proclaim
him who is the joy of the human race and the bliss of heaven. He is the new
witness from whose lips the world heard that our Redeemer, the Lamb of God, was
at hand. He, the trustworthy messenger of so great a mystery, was the witness
whose birth was announced by an angel to parents who had given up hope of
offspring.
What person of good sense, discerning the hand of heaven in
his birth, would not believe that he proclaimed divine mysteries? For he was
not yet a child and was being carried partly formed in the womb when, by the
privilege of the grace bestowed on him, he filled the heart of his blessed
mother with eternal joy, and before his birth she made known the fruitfulness
of her once barren womb. Elizabeth said to Mary: "Why, as the sound of
your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy! How is it
that I am honored by a visit from the mother of my Lord?"
It is not surprising that this elderly woman was endowed
with the gift of foreknowledge, since she was to give birth to the herald of
the most high God.
Elizabeth's barrenness became her glory, for because her
fruitfulness was delayed she obtained by the gift of a single child the honor
of all posterity. While in their old age she and her husband were lamenting her
unfruitfulness, she unexpectedly brought forth not merely a son for herself but
the herald of eternal salvation for the whole world. Such a great herald was he
that by anticipating the grace of his future ministry, he gave his mother the
spirit of prophecy, and by the power of the name assigned to him by the angel,
he opened the mouth of his father Zechariah, which had been sealed by doubt.
For Zechariah had lost the power of speech not permanently,
but so that the miraculous restoration of his voice might give heavenly
testimony to the prophetic child. The priest who used to speak to the people
became dumb so that his public silence might bring the mystery of the sacred
birth to the notice of the entire people, and they would not dare to disbelieve.
Of him whose birth his father doubted, incurring the punishment
of being unable to speak, the Evangelist says: "He himself was not the light,
but came to give testimony to the light so that everyone might believe through
him." Indeed he was not the light, but because he was worthy to give
testimony to the true light, he was wholly in the light. Therefore let us all
give honor to the most blessed John by celebrating this day of his birth with
great joy, for before anyone else he recognized the everlasting light of heaven
which was going to dispel the darkness of the world, and he was the first to
point it out.
~Maximus of Turin
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