Decreasing With St. John the Baptist

Today we celebrate the Nativity of John the Baptist, the forerunner to Christ who was to prepare the way for Him. Today begins the next stage in salvation history which began with the birth of the Virgin Mary and will continue to lay the groundwork for Christ’s mission and the message He will send to the world. John the Baptist became a major figure with a significant role in the history of Christianity and yet he would always point to Christ, saying “He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30). Pope Benedict XVI, with words in an Angelus message in 2006, reminds us that these words are “a program for every Christian” and that we are His voices here on earth.

The proper goal of every Christian in their life is to decrease while Christ increases, both in their personal lives and their social lives. John the Baptist constantly was pointing away from himself, desiring to decrease his own importance and magnify Christ’s. He even said that he was not worthy to so much as untie the sandals of Christ (Luke 3:16). And before his ministry, he spent many years in the wilderness alone with God in prayer, seeking out the will of God and discerning how to best go about his ministry so that God would be glorified and Christ would increase in both his life and the lives of others. Prayer is the foundation of any ministry which seeks to increase the reign of Christ, and if we wish to truly decrease so that He may increase, it must be our first priority before carrying anything out.

On this great solemnity, let us ask St. John the Baptist for the proper disposition in our lives, that is, to truly desire to decrease so that Christ can increase in our lives and in our interactions with those around us.