I’m not sure if he ever double dipped locusts in honey or ate the camel he got his clothes from, but I am sure that St. John the Baptist rocks. He reminds all of us of our mission.

 

After pointing out the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world to them, St. John the Baptist told his disciples to follow Him saying, “I must decrease He must increase”.

 

St. John the Baptist was born to bear witness to Christ. His birth is celebrated today in the Catholic Church–the only Saint after the Virgin Mary who gets their physical and heavenly birthday celebrated! Check this out, from Scripture read today at Holy Mass:

 

The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.

 

He was all about the mission from in the womb! “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb” That’s no blob of tissue in there!

 

A sharp-edged sword, a polished arrow in God’s Hand! That’s St. John. He blazed a trail for Christ til he lost his head. All to make Christ known and followed. No coward wears camel shirts.

 

We need to follow his example in standing up for Christ Jesus. To point Him out by our words and always by our example. We must decrease–it’s not about me, myself and i–and He must increase in us in our hearts! No longer then will it be I who live…but Christ who lives in me! Christians are called to radiate Jesus that He might increase in all!

 

St. John the Baptist, pray for us!