Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
June 24, 2026
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.
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
Reflection
Growing up in a small town in Mexico where everyone knows each other, adults who met me on the street would ask, “What’s your name?” and they would always attach another question: “And who do you belong to?” This formulation was so common that I never thought about the connection between the two questions, but to the stranger who asked, my name implied belonging, identity, and heritage.
The naming of the only son of Elizabeth and Zechariah is at the heart of today’s Scripture. The neighbors and relatives who were present at his circumcision expected to name the baby after his father as a sign of the household to which he belonged; his rights, his responsibilities, and his future were attached to this name.
But for his parents, this child belonged to God. The Lord gave them this child, the Lord named him, and the Lord gave him a mission. For Elizabeth and Zechariah, John’s name would not represent their household’s future, but God’s purpose for him. He would be named John—the precursor, the Baptist.
This story invites us to reflect on what we are willing to offer the Lord to use for God’s purposes. Elizabeth and Zechariah gave their beloved son. Am I willing to offer my words, my hands, my plans, or whatever the Lord may ask of me to his divine will? The Lord will certainly work wonders with all our offerings.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you call each child to grow and become strong in your spirit. Give parents the grace to let their children grow in your image and likeness, no matter their own preferences. Reveal the truth and the spirit within each child, help them, and let all know you are always with them. We ask this in your name, Christ the teacher. 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, Zechariah, 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 a stained glass window shown here 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!