Antiphons at Lauds - Psalms of Sunday of the 1st week

1. You shall name him John, and many will rejoice at his birth.

2. He will go before the Lord, with the spirit and power of Elijah, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.

3. You, little child, shall be called Prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare a way for him.

Mal. 3, 23-24

Behold, I shall send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible Day of the Lord arrives. He will reconcile parents with children and children to their parents, that I may think again before putting the country under the curse of destruction.

The word of the Lord came to me, saying: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you came to birth, I consecrated you. I appointed you as prophet to the nations." I then said, "Oh, my Lord Yahweh; you see, I do not know how to speak for I am only a child!"

To which the Lord replied, "Do not say, ‘I am only a child,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of confronting them, for I am with you to rescue you, as do I Lord here declare.

"As for you, prepare yourself for action. Stand up and tell them all I command you. Have no fear of them and in their presence I will make you fearless. For look, today I have made you, into a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of bronze to stand against the whole country: the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests and the people of the couritry. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you, the Lord declares, to rescue you."

Pre-figured by Jeremiah as "a prophet of the most High", John was moreover consecrated before birth to announce Jesus and to prepare souls for his coming.

In the Gospel of March 25^th we read that the angel Gabrel announced to Mary that three months later, Elizabeth, in virtue of a divine miracle, would have a son. This is why the Nativity of St John the Baptist is celebrated June 24.

St Luke narrates the prodigies which accompanied his birth. Zachary gives his child the name which St Gabriel has brought, him from heaven, which means: "The Lord has pardoned." He immediately recovers his speech and filled with the Holy Spirit, he foretells the greatness of his son: "He shall walk before the face of the Lord to give to the people the knowledge of salvation."The angel Gabriel had announced to Zachary that "many would rejoice in the birth of St John the Baptist."

Indeed not only "the neighbours and relations of Elizabeth" solemnized the event, but every year the whole Church invites her children to share in this holy joy. She knows that the nativity "of this prophet of the most High" at this "Summer Christmas" is intimately connected with the Advent of the Messiah.

After the feast of the Nativity of St John the days become shorter, while, on the contrary, after the nativity of the Saviour, of which this feast is the prelude, the days become longer. The Precursor must efface himself before Jesus who is the true light of faith. "He must increase," says John, "and I must decrease."

The solstices were the occasion of pagan feasts when fires were lit to honour the orb which gives us light. The Church christianized the rights seeing in them a symbol of St John who was "a burning and brilliant lamp." Indeed, she encouraged this kind of manifestation which corresponds so well with the character of the feast. The St John bonfires happily completed the liturgicat solemnity; they showed the Church and city united in one thought.

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