Daily Gospel Reflection
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June 24, 2023
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child
she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her.
When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
“No. He will be called John.”
But they answered her,
“There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Then fear came upon all their neighbors,
and all these matters were discussed
throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
“What, then, will this child be?”
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
The child grew and became strong in spirit,
and he was in the desert until the day
of his manifestation to Israel.
I am a volunteer teacher at The Day School in the Hilltop, a poor and crime-ridden part of Columbus, Ohio. Our school’s founder, Rachel Muha, started the school as a way of caring for inner-city children academically, emotionally, and spiritually after her son, Brian, was murdered by hopeless and addicted young men from the inner city while he was at college.
The greatest heartbreak a parent could face did not overwhelm her faith in God. She publicly forgave the young men who killed Brian the day she learned of her son’s torture and death. Twenty-four years later, she continues praying for the men and writes to them in prison, pleading with them to ask God’s forgiveness so they can all be together in heaven one day. It was this incredible faith, along with a profound understanding of mercy, that called her to open our school to show kids love, reinforce the importance of education, and teach them about God.
Because of Rachel’s guiding and loving presence, many children’s lives are changed. In example, one nine-year-old student named Liam ardently wants to be baptized. He asks at least once a week! Liam has not met his father, who is in prison for murder, so Rachel is working with Liam’s mother to have him baptized. He often says that he wants to become a saint.
Our students and teachers alike find inspiration in Rachel’s faithful witness. Like John the Baptist, whom we celebrate today, she points others to Christ in a self-sacrificial way. As John the Baptist said, “He [Christ] must increase, I must decrease.” (Jn 3:30)
May we join our prayers to John in asking that Jesus increase in all our lives.
Prayer
Eternal Father, You opened the mouths of apostles and prophets to proclaim Your glory and salvation to all the world. We yearn to glorify you, yet we realize all too well that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Let our hearts be ever consumed with zeal for Your house, and may Your Holy Spirit free us from all anxiety in always spreading the Good News through our words and actions. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day

Nearly every saint has a feast day on the calendar that marks the date of their death because that is the day on which they entered eternal life in heaven. Mary and John the Baptist are both exceptions to this rule. We have feast days for both their births and entry into eternal life because of their proximity to the most important events in human history—the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Today, we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist because he came to announce to the world the coming of our savior.
John the Baptist falls under many of the familiar categories of holiness that are found among the saints: he was a great teacher and a martyr; he was chaste for his whole life; he was also a prophet—the last prophet, in fact.
His birth was foretold to his father, Zachary, who was a priest, when an angel appeared to him while he was offering sacrifice and prayers before the altar. Though his wife, Elizabeth, was infertile, and they were both approaching old age, she conceived and bore a son and they named him John.
John became a hermit and lived in the desert, fasting and praying. When he was 30, he began preaching and encouraging people to repentance and conversion, and he used the ritual washing of baptism to symbolize spiritual cleansing.
When Jesus began his ministry, he came to John, who baptized him and submitted to his authority. John continued to preach as Jesus went through Galilee. When John spoke out against King Herod’s adultery, the king had him arrested, and he was eventually beheaded.
The feast of the birth of John the Baptist is one of the oldest feasts in the calendar. It falls just after the summer solstice, at a moment when the days start to get noticeably shorter (until the return of the sun at the birth of Jesus at Christmas). St. Augustine thought that this was appropriate because when John’s followers were disturbed that people were following Jesus instead of him, he replied, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John the Baptist is often depicted with a lamb because he identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). A number of relics of John the Baptist rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, including a piece of the house he grew up in. He is depicted in the Basilica in this stained glass window and in a wall mural. He is also shown baptizing Jesus in a tapestry that hangs near the baptismal font in the Basilica.
St. John the Baptist, you pointed the world towards the coming of Jesus, our savior—pray for us!