The Church celebrates only three birthdays in the liturgical year.
The birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
And today, the birth of St John the Baptist.
That fact alone should make us stop and ask:
Why is John so important?
What makes his birth different from every other saint?
The answer is simple.
John is the bridge.
The bridge between the Old Testament and the New.
The last and greatest of the prophets.
The man chosen by God to prepare the world for Christ.
Think about it.
For centuries Israel had been waiting.
Waiting for the Messiah.
Waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled.
Waiting for salvation.
Generation after generation lived and died waiting.
Then finally, when the moment arrives, God sends John.
Not as the light.
But as the one who points to the light.
Not as the Saviour.
But as the one who prepares the way for the Saviour.
That is why John’s whole life can be summed up in one sentence:
He points away from himself and towards Christ.
That is his greatness.
In today’s Gospel everyone is excited about the child.
His birth is miraculous.
His mother was thought barren.
His father had been struck mute.
Neighbours are talking.
Relatives are wondering.
Everybody wants to know:
What will this child become?
And when the child is named John, Zechariah’s speech returns.
Immediately people begin asking:
“What will this child turn out to be?”
It is one of the great questions of the Gospel.
And perhaps it is a question every parent asks.
What will this child become?
Successful?
Happy?
Respected?
Wealthy?
Influential?
But God had something greater in mind.
John would become holy.
And in the end that matters more than everything else.
We live in a culture obsessed with achievement.
People ask:
What career will you have?
How much money will you earn?
What qualifications will you gain?
What status will you achieve?
God asks a different question.
Will you become a saint?
Because at the end of our lives, that is the only achievement that lasts.
The first reading shows us something else about John.
God says:
“I have made you the light of the nations.”
Those words originally point beyond Isaiah’s servant to Christ Himself.
Yet John shares in that mission.
His task is to bring people to the true Light.
To prepare hearts for Christ.
And that is exactly what we see throughout his life.
John never seeks attention for himself.
When crowds gather around him, he points them to Jesus.
When his disciples become attached to him, he points them to Jesus.
When people wonder whether he is the Messiah, he points them to Jesus.
And eventually he speaks the words that reveal his entire soul:
“He must increase; I must decrease.”
There is the secret.
There is the greatness of John the Baptist.
Most people spend their lives trying to make themselves bigger.
More important.
More noticed.
More admired.
More successful.
John spends his life making Christ known.
And perhaps that is why he remains so relevant.
Because ours is an age obsessed with self.
We are constantly encouraged to build our identity around ourselves.
Express yourself.
Promote yourself.
Advertise yourself.
Talk about yourself.
Follow your dreams.
Follow your truth.
Follow yourself.
John says the opposite.
Do not spend your life pointing to yourself.
Point to Christ.
Because only Christ can save.
Only Christ can forgive sins.
Only Christ can conquer death.
Only Christ can satisfy the human heart.
The tragedy is that many people spend their whole lives searching for happiness in themselves.
And they never find it.
Because we were not created to be our own centre.
We were created for God.
John understood that.
That is why he could live in the wilderness.
That is why he could surrender comfort.
That is why he could lose everything.
Even his life.
Because he had found the one thing that mattered most.
And perhaps that is the challenge for us today.
Not all of us are called to be prophets.
Not all of us are called to dramatic missions.
Not all of us are called to preach beside the Jordan.
But every Christian shares John’s vocation in one way.
Every Christian is called to point towards Christ.
Parents point children towards Christ.
Grandparents point families towards Christ.
Priests point people towards Christ.
Friends point friends towards Christ.
The Church exists to point the world towards Christ.
The question is simple.
When people look at our lives, what do they see?
Do they see someone absorbed in themselves?
Or do they see someone whose life points beyond themselves?
Towards God.
Towards truth.
Towards Jesus Christ.
Today the Church rejoices in the birth of John the Baptist.
A child whose coming filled neighbours with wonder.
A prophet who prepared the way for the Lord.
A martyr who remained faithful to the truth.
A saint whose whole life proclaimed one message:
Do not look at me.
Look at Christ.
And if we learn that lesson, then we shall discover the secret not only of John’s greatness, but of our own holiness as well.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 