Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time (June 24^th 2012)     

Birth of St John the Baptist. Gospel: Luke 1:57-66, 80

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

The Gospel this Sunday recounts how John the Baptist was given a new name that had never been used in his family previously.  As always, Don Fabio asks us to apply this Gospel message thoroughly to our personal lives. He exhorts each one of us to be "renamed", moving away from our habitual preoccupations and fixations, and opening our hearts to the blessings that God is bestowing on each of us in the present moment.

SUMMARY OF THE HOMILY

v John the Baptist is to be given a name that has never before been used in his family. This indicates that God is doing something that is new

v We too must be renamed. We must break out of our habitual patterns of behaviour and be renewed by the Lord

v How is this renewal of our lives to be achieved? Let us look at the Gospel text and consider what it says

v The play on names in the Gospel is highly significant. The meaning of "Zechariah" emphasizes the PAST action of God. The meaning of "John" is "The Lord is blessing us with grace right NOW"

v  We should not think that the great events of salvation history all occurred in the past. The only moment that God is active in history is in the present.

v  Our lives can be renewed by a radical opening of our hearts to the way that God is blessing us in this very moment

The original homily follows . . .

The child is to be given a name that has never before been used in the family. This indicates that God is doing something new

This Sunday we celebrate the joyful birth of John the Baptist. The theme of the Gospel passage revolves around the naming of the newborn child. All the relatives and friends wants to call him "Zechariah" like his father, but Zechariah has been struck dumb because he refused to believe the prophecy given to him by the angel. Elizabeth speaks up and declares that the child is to be called "John", a name that had never before been used in the family. Here we have the principal theme of the passage. The child is to be given a name that none of his ancestors have. Something new is happening. The Lord's plan is about to unfold in an extraordinary way.

We too must be renamed. We must break out of our habitual patterns of behaviour and be renewed by the Lord

What happens in this text must also happen for each one of us if we wish to follow the Lord Jesus seriously. Our lives are filled with things that are always done the same old way. We are bogged down in habitual ways of looking at the world. We are laden with fixations and preoccupations - idols that demand our daily homage. To exit this cul-de-sac, each one of us desperately needs to be "renamed"! If we do not change the horizon out of which we operate, then we will always find ourselves going around in circles, living out the same patterns of behaviour and preoccupied with the same old things. How can this change be achieved? The Lord Jesus is coming into the world and has sent his precursor ahead of him. This precursor is a sign of change, of an event that will alter the direction of history. Let us return to the Gospel text to see if we can discover the kind of transformation that the Lord is planning for each of us.

The names are highly significant. The meaning of "Zechariah" emphasizes the PAST action of God. The meaning of "John" is "God is blessing us with grace right NOW"

The family wish to call the child "Zechariah". Elizabeth says that he is to be called "John", and the father resolves the dispute by writing the name down. At this very moment, Zechariah is finally obedient to the angel, accepting that his own name is not going to be given to his son, and acknowledging that something new is happening that does not originate in him. The play on names in the text is highly significant. The name "Zechariah" means "Yahweh remembers the past". Remembering the past is one of the themes of the liturgy. The Passover was the memorial of the night of liberation from Egypt. The glorious past was something beautiful that was not to be forgotten. It was something that should inspire us in the present and be a model for following the Lord. But this Gospel is saying something new and different. The name "John" means "God is giving his grace right now", or "God, in this moment, is blessing us with benevolence". The change of name from Zechariah to John indicates explicitly that we are moving from an emphasis on the past to an emphasis on the present. God is doing something new. In the Second Letter to the Corinthians, St Paul tells us to forget the things of the past. Whoever is in Christ, he says, is a new creation. In another text, Paul says that he no longer looks to the past but is running onwards towards the prize that awaits him. In other words, we will not be open to the redemption unless we open our hearts to what the Lord is doing in our lives right now.

We should not think that the great events of salvation history all occurred in the past. The only moment that God is active in history is right now. We must open our hearts to the way that God is blessing us in this very moment

The Lord not only knows how to do new things, he knows how to make all things new. God can give a new flavour and a new heart to all of reality. We must stop thinking that the great things of salvation history have already occurred in the past! The century with the greatest number of martyrs for the faith was the twentieth century. The only moment of history in which God is active is this one. Christians are called to live in the present. Jesus tells us, "Do not worry about the future, what you will eat or drink, or what you will wear. The pagans worry about these things." In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "Whoever is born of the Spirit hears His voice, like the wind, but he does not know where it comes from". The Christian must be rooted in the fact that God is giving his grace to each individual now. Remembering the past is important, and we must purify our memories of the past. But the business of opening our hearts to God is something that can only be done in the present moment.

            With the birth of John the Baptist, a new chapter in the plan of God starts to unfold. A child is born and something new begins. When a new baby comes into the world, we often have to hope that the parents and relatives of this child will allow him the freedom to be himself, and not try to live his life for him. When a young person is trying to discern his vocation, then he must be liberated completely from the expectations and preoccupations of his family. He must, as it were, be "renamed" John, and not Zechariah. He must be made aware that God makes all things new. Even if he has made mistakes in the past, this will not hinder the power of God. God can enter a life and make a sterile woman give birth, or the dumb speak. The Gospel this week exhorts us to contemplate on the fact that the Lord is bestowing his grace on us right now. Let us open ourselves to that grace of God in this present moment.