The Lord called me from birth and made of me a light to the nations. The Church today celebrates the nativity of John the Baptist, a cousin of our Lord. The two were basically age-mates, John the Baptist being slightly older than Jesus by six months. The two knew each other both personally and “professionally” (understood in the sense of the ministry). The Baptist understood his ministry as preparatory to that of Jesus (“What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. He is coming after me” [Acts 13:25]). Jesus also understood the mission that the Baptist accomplished and heaped praise on him (cf. Matthew 11:11-14). Today’s feast is a celebration of this “professional” relationship that existed between the two. The birth of John the Baptist celebrates more than the very event of his being born as is narrated in our Gospel reading today. Today’s feast is a celebration of the life and person of John the Baptist, a prophet of God and forerunner of Jesus Christ. It is a celebration of that which John the Baptist represented: “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (First Reading). The birth of the Baptist is celebrated because it ushered a new era. In the birth and ministry of John the Baptist, the old order gives way to the new (the ministry of the Baptist strides the Old and New Testaments). As Jesus rightly points out, the mission of the Baptist was the fulfillment of all the prophecies of old (Matthew 11:13). As a prophet, the Baptist was raised by God to be God’s messenger, to be a mouthpiece of God. But John was more than a prophet (Matthew 11:9). His ministry prepared the way for the self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ. As the forerunner of the Christ, he had a special role of preparing the hearts of the people for the advent of the Word of God. It was a privileged ministry, one that elevated him from being a servant of God as other prophets were. God made John the Baptist a light to the nations, a ministry that was properly Israel’s (cf. Genesis 12:1-3; Isaiah 49:1-6). In the ministry of St. John the Baptist, the promises that God had made to Israel are fulfilled. It is for this reason that the Baptist’s ministry strides the mission of the prophets of old and that of Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus Christ that God’s salvation reaches the ends of the earth. It is in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ that God’s light reaches the darkest parts of the universe, for Jesus Christ is himself that light. But John the Baptist was privileged to share in that ministry. Jesus’ ministry continued that which was begun in the prophets of old and fulfilled in the ministry of the Baptist (the reason why the Baptist had to decrease at the onset of Jesus’ public ministry). The Baptist laid the foundation upon which Jesus built his ministry.