Within a month of the feast of the Visitation (May 31), when we celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary’s visit to her kinswoman Elizabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist, we have a Solemnity celebrating his birth.  He is one of only three people whose births are celebrated with a feast day.  Why is that?  Normally the feasts of saints correspond to the anniversary of their deaths, their birth into eternal life and not their birth into earthly life.

We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, of course, at Christmas.  He, the Son of God, was conceived without sin and born without sin.  And we celebrate the birth of His Mother Mary on September 8, nine months after we celebrate her Immaculate Conception.  She was also conceived and born without sin.  But what about John?

Like us, John the Baptist was conceived with Original Sin.  But unlike us, he was born without sin and that is why we celebrate his birth with a feast.  How is it he was conceived with Original Sin but then was born without it?

According to Luke’s Gospel, when Mary met Elizabeth, “the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth [was] filled with the Holy Spirit” (1: 41).  Just as the Holy Spirit came upon us when we were baptized and freed us from sin, so the Spirit came upon John.  Though he inherited Original Sin at his conception, the Spirit freed him while he was still in the womb, and he was born without sin.

Guided by the Holy Spirit throughout his life, this great saint followed the will of God who called him to be the “Forerunner” of Jesus, the Messiah.  Quoting from the Prophet Isaiah, John said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert make straight the way of the Lord” (John 1: 23).

Rather than fostering a following for himself, he declared that he was not the Messiah.  He said that he was simply the friend of the Bridegroom and he told people to follow Jesus.  “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3: 28-30).

Although it’s good to celebrate our birthdays, isn’t it a good idea to remember and to celebrate our baptism, the day when we, like John, received the Holy Spirit and were freed from sin?  Doing so can help us remember that, like John, we are called to draw attention not to ourselves but to our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom of souls.

Let’s pray with John the Baptist: “May Jesus increase in me and may my self-centeredness decrease today.”