|
Theology of the Heart: Teachings of the Saints |
On
the Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist
Saint Augustine of Hippo
This
reading on the birth of John the Baptist was taken from a sermon of
St. Augustine (Sermon 293, 1-3; PL 38, 1327-1328) and is in the
Office of Readings for June 24, the Solemnity of the Birth of John
the Baptist.
The Church observes the
birth of John as in some way sacred; and you will not find any other of
the great men of old whose birth we celebrate officially. We celebrate
John’s, as we celebrate Christ’s. This point cannot be passed over in
silence, and if I may not perhaps be able to explain it in the way that
such an important matter deserves, it is still worth thinking about it a
little more deeply and fruitfully than usual.
John is born of an old woman who is barren; Christ is born of a young
woman who is a virgin. That John will be born is not believed, and his
father is struck dumb; that Christ will be born is believed, and he is
conceived by faith.
I have proposed some matters for inquiry, and listed in advance some
things that need to be discussed. I have introduced these points even if
we are not up to examining all the twists and turns of such a great
mystery, either for lack of capacity or for lack of time. You will be
taught much better by the one who speaks in you even when I am not here;
the one about whom you think loving thoughts, the one whom you have
taken into your hearts and whose temple you have become.
John, it seems, has been inserted as a kind of boundary between the two
Testaments, the Old and the New. That he is somehow or other a boundary
is something that the Lord himself indicates when he says, The Law and
the prophets were until John. So he represents the old and heralds the
new. Because he represents the old, he is born of an elderly couple;
because he represents the new, he is revealed as a prophet in his
mother’s womb. You will remember that, before he was born, at Mary’s
arrival he leapt in his mother’s womb. Already he had been marked out
there, designated before he was born; it was already shown whose
forerunner he would be, even before he saw him. These are divine
matters, and exceed the measure of human frailty. Finally, he is born,
he receives a name, and his father’s tongue is loosed.
Zachary is struck dumb and loses his voice, until John, the Lord’s
forerunner, is born and releases his voice for him. What does Zachary’s
silence mean, but that prophecy was obscure and, before the proclamation
of Christ, somehow concealed and shut up? It is released and opened up
by his arrival, it becomes clear when the one who was being prophesied
is about to come. The releasing of Zachary’s voice at the birth of John
has the same significance as the tearing of the veil of the Temple at
the crucifixion of Christ. If John were meant to proclaim himself, he
would not be opening Zachary’s mouth. The tongue is released because a
voice is being born – for when John was already heralding the Lord, he
was asked, Who are you and he replied I am the voice of one crying in
the wilderness.
John is the voice, but the Lord in the beginning was the Word. John is a
voice for a time, but Christ is the eternal Word from the beginning.
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
