Today's Saint of the Day is the patron of baptism! 💦
June 24, 2025
Dear Friend,
Today we celebrate the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist—Jesus’ forerunner, a man whose life was marked by fierce conviction, radical humility, and unwavering obedience to God’s will. John’s voice cried out in the wilderness, calling all to repentance and reformation, preparing the world for Christ’s coming. He embraced a life of simplicity and sacrifice, declaring, “He must increase; I must decrease.” Even when uncertainty and suffering came, John remained faithful, becoming a model of deep spiritual surrender.
His example calls us to total dependence on God and reminds us that true greatness lies not in status or success, but in making space for Christ to grow in and through us. In today’s world—no less noisy or distracted than John’s desert—the witness of his life cuts through with clarity and power: Be bold in faith. Be humble in spirit. Trust the mission, even in the unknown.
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Jesus called John the greatest of all those who had preceded him: “I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John….” But John would have agreed completely with what Jesus added: “[Y]et the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28).
John spent his time in the desert, an ascetic. He began to announce the coming of the Kingdom, and to call everyone to a fundamental reformation of life. His purpose was to prepare the way for Jesus. His baptism, he said, was for repentance. But one would come who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. John was not worthy even to untie his sandals. His attitude toward Jesus was: “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30).
John was humbled to find among the crowd of sinners who came to be baptized the one whom he already knew to be the Messiah. “I need to be baptized by you” (Matthew 3:14b). But Jesus insisted, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15b). Jesus, true and humble human as well as eternal God, was eager to do what was required of any good Jew. Jesus thus publicly entered the community of those awaiting the Messiah. But making himself part of that community, he made it truly messianic.
The greatness of John, his pivotal place in the history of salvation, is seen in the great emphasis Luke gives to the announcement of his birth and the event itself—both made prominently parallel to the same occurrences in the life of Jesus. John attracted countless people to the banks of the Jordan, and it occurred to some people that he might be the Messiah. But he constantly deferred to Jesus, even to sending away some of his followers to become the first disciples of Jesus.
Perhaps John’s idea of the coming of the Kingdom of God was not being perfectly fulfilled in the public ministry of Jesus. For whatever reason, when he was in prison he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah. Jesus’ answer showed that the Messiah was to be a figure like that of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah. John himself would share in the pattern of messianic suffering, losing his life to the revenge of Herodias.
Reflection
John challenges us Christians to the fundamental attitude of Christianity—total dependence on the Father, in Christ. Except for the Mother of God, no one had a higher function in the unfolding of salvation. Yet the least in the kingdom, Jesus said, is greater than he, for the pure gift that the Father gives. The attractiveness as well as the austerity of John, his fierce courage in denouncing evil—all stem from his fundamental and total placing of his life within the will of God.
There are real saints who are living sacraments in the Church, and we tend to ignore them and focus only on the bad at great peril to our souls. But those who are deeply and intensely wounded by their fellow Christians need also to be heard and not shouted down. It is a pattern going all the way back to the apostles that the worst pain somebody attempting obedience to God faces is not from those outside the communion of Christ but from those within it who hate, abuse, betray, abandon, neglect, and backbite.
This is why Jesus commands the Church’s members to practice radical forgiveness of one another. I stink at all this, of course. It is a struggle every day for me. But Jesus says it is nonetheless the Way. It is hard, hard work to get there. But it can be done if we choose to receive the grace to do it. And the fruit it bears is freedom.
“How are you dealing with the mess our world is in?” a worried daughter asked. I, too, had been seeking wisdom, which I found in a sentence near the end of Voltaire’s Candide: “Let us cultivate our gardens.” That helped, she said. In a few days my gift arrived at her home, a porcelain cup with the sentence in French: “Il faut cultiver notre jardin.”
Pray
Omniscient God, We understand so little about the chaos that seems to be shrouding our world. We feel powerless when wave upon wave of disruption knocks us off balance. Help us find peace in your words or in the wisdom of our ancestors so we can move forward in hope.
Act
So many problems, so much pain, so little we can do to resolve it all. But we can start in our own homes, neighborhoods, schools and non-profits. We can take tiny steps, offer a hand, take root where we are planted and “cultivate our gardens.”
Today’s Pause+Pray was written by Elizabeth Bookser Barkley, PhD. Learn more here!
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