Born in the hill country of Judea six months before his cousin Jesus, the birth of the man we now call John the Baptist was highly anticipated, by Zachariah, Elizabeth, and the community around them, and he did not disappoint. 

When, exactly, he went out into the desert to prepare the world for the arrival of Jesus we don’t know but, by the time Jesus began His ministry, John was widely seen as an important prophet proclaiming the coming of The Messiah and, like Jesus, the truth John proclaims is hard for those in power to listen to, especially those who use that power to their own end. 

Herrod not only knew John the Baptist but enjoyed hearing him speak. Clearly, The Holy Spirit was reaching Herrod’s heart. But Herrod was not in the habit of denying himself what he wanted and when his brother’s wife, Herodius, caught his eye he simply took her for his own. 

John, on the other hand, was very much in the habit of calling out those who misused their state in life and he did so with Herrod and Herodius, which angered and insulted Herodius who insisted he be arrested. 

Herrod obliged, John was put in prison, and the beginning of the end of his life was set in motion. 

Before Herodius calls for John’s head on a platter, before Salome does her dance, before Herrod promises Herodius anything she wants, Herrod had been moved by The Holy Spirit working in John. Yet, when the time to decide arrives, whose voice does he really listen to? It is Herodius who talks but the voice going into Herrod’s ear is not from God and there can only be one other source. 

Today as we remember John The Baptist let us be mindful that The Holy Spirit, the love between The Father and The Son, the source of Life in Mary’s womb which becomes The Incarnate Word, is also the source of the one crying out in the desert; “Prepare The Way of The Lord.” It is The Holy Spirit, calling to all of us. Let us not just hear, but follow. 

St. John the Baptist, please pray for us.