Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Today is the feast of my local parish’s patron saint, St. John the Baptist.  It being a weekday we had a morning Mass, which I normally attend, and a special evening Mass due to this solemn occasion.  I was able to attend both. Today also marks the first novena I have ever completed, the novena of St. John the Baptist.  A novena is a prayer over a span of nine consecutive days.  It is usually timed so that it ends on a special feast day.  It is a traditional Catholic prayer and I may have done one when I was a child in grade school, but I do not remember doing one.

Focusing, meditating, praying, and pondering over the life of St. John the Baptist over these last nine days has given me pause to rethink about my own life.  When am I called to be a “voice in the wilderness?”  Am I proclaiming “Behold the Lamb of God” for all those who need to hear it in my life?  I think of John leaping for joy in his mother’s womb when Mary pregnant with Jesus arrives for the Visitation.  Do I leap for joy?  May we all be filled with the Holy Spirit and jump for joy as John did.