Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist 2021

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
June 24, 2021

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

So today we celebrate this Solemnity, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. And as we know, St. John the Baptist is the only one, besides Jesus and Mary our Blessed Mother, whose birthday the Church celebrates.

And we all know him because he marks a turning point in the history of salvation.

John proclaimed Christ living in the womb. We remember the story of the Visitation — how John leaped in his mother’s womb when he was in the presence of Jesus who was also in Our Blessed Mother’s womb.

So obviously it’s a very special Solemnity when every year we celebrate the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. There are many traditions in many communities so it’s good that we are together today for this special celebration.

In today’s passage of the Gospels, we can see how people were amazed about him. “All who heard these things,” as we just heard, “took them to heart, saying ‘what then will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”

And as we heard in the second reading, he’s the last and greatest of the prophets. And the first to proclaim Jesus Christ and announce his coming as our Savior. As he said, as we know: “Behold, one is coming after me. I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.”

His whole life was a beautiful life dedicated totally to his vocation of being the — announcing the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

And we still speak those beautiful word of St. John the Baptist every time that we celebrate the Holy Eucharist, right before the distribution of Holy Communion: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

So, it is, again, a special moment every year in the life of the Church. As we know, St. John the Baptist used to say: “He must increase, I must decrease.” And my brothers and sisters, this is how we should live.

Like St. John the Baptist, we should put Jesus at the center of our life as he did.

St. John the Baptist wanted to think like Jesus and see the world through his eyes, trying always to follow his example and his teachings.

So let’s ask for the grace today to follow his example. Today, in a special way, Jesus is calling each one of us to follow him and to live our lives for him. To serve him and help him to build his Kingdom.

And we should do that, with the help of the grace of God, in our daily life. As we try to imitate Our Lord Jesus Christ and share the beauty of his life and his teachings to the people around us.

In the first reading,  the prophet is told: “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

That was St. John the Baptist’s mission and it is ours, too. The same responsibility given to us by our Baptism.

We are called— just as John the Baptist was — to be a light to our nation. To tell the world of God’s mercy and salvation. To share our joy in believing with everyone we meet.

So again, today let’s ask for that grace — that we can commit ourselves, once again, to living and proclaiming that Jesus is alive and that he is calling us to a great destiny of love.

In the words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, he said: “Let us invoke his intercession,” — intercession of St. John the Baptist — “together with that of Mary Most Holy, so that also in our day the Church will remain ever faithful to Christ and courageously witness to his truth and to his love for all."²