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TWENTY-FOURTH OF JUNE
SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
REFLECTION
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SERMON BY SAINT AUGUSTINE
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After that really holy birthday of the Lord,
we do not read of the birthday of any man being celebrated,
except that of blessed John the Baptist.
In the case of other saints and elect of God,
we know that that day is honoured on which,
when their works were accomplished
and the world conquered and completely subdued,
they were born from this present life into the everlasting life of eternity.
In others we honour the completed merits of their last day;
in this present case, the first day,
and the very beginning of this man is holy;
doubtless for this reason,
that the Lord wished his coming to be attested,
lest if he came suddenly and unexpectedly,
men might not recognise him.
But John was a figure of the old Testament,
and typified the law in himself;
and therefore John foretold the Saviour,
just as the law preceded grace.
When not yet born, he prophesied from
the hiding-place of his mother’s womb,
and already bore witness to the truth
though destitute of light himself.
This event must be understood in the sense that,
hidden under the veil and flesh of the letter,
by the spirit he preached the Redeemer to the world,
and proclaimed our Lord to us as from the womb of the Law.
Therefore, because the Jews went astray from the womb,
that is, from the Law which was pregnant with Christ,
they went astray from the womb,
speaking lies;
and so John came for a witness,
to give testimony of the light.
John, from prison, directs his disciples to Christ.
This event represents the Law sending to the Gospel.
The same Law is typified by John,
enclosed as it were in the prison of ignorance,
lying in the dark in a hidden place,
and held captive in the letter by Jewish blindness.
Of him the blessed Evangelist proclaims:
“He was a shining lamp,”
that is, he was enkindled by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
that to a world held in the night of ignorance
he might show forth the light of salvation,
and amid the thickest darkness of sin
might by his ray point out the most resplendent Sun of justice,
saying of himself:
“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.”
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(ROMAN BREVIARY)
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responsorialpsalmcatholic 