Wednesday, June 24th, 2020

For how many other saints do we celebrate their birthday?  The answer of course is none of them.  And yet today we feast the Birth of John the Baptist.  And yet this feast is arguably the oldest feast of a saint in the whole Roman calendar.  Why is this so?  It goes back to what is related just before the Gospel text of today: “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit”.  For 2000 years, Christians have feasted this day as a day of triumph: here, before Christ was even born, is a victory and fruit of the coming of Christ - the outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto a little unborn child.  Let us pray for all unborn children today - that all our societies and governments will recognise, love and protect our children in the womb.