From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   John prophecies from the womb   
      
      "Not yet born, already John prophesies and, while still in the   
   enclosure of his mother's womb, confesses the coming of Christ with   
   movements of joy-- since he could not do so with his voice. As   
   Elizabeth says to holy Mary, 'As soon as you greeted me, the child in   
   my womb exulted for joy.' John exults, then, before he is born. Before   
   his eyes can see what the world looks like, he can recognize the Lord   
   of the world with his spirit. In this regard, I think that the   
   prophetic phrase is appropriate: 'Before I formed you in the womb I   
   knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you'   
   (Jeremiah 1:5). Thus we ought not to marvel that after Herod put him   
   in prison, he continued to announce Christ to his disciples from his   
   confinement, when even confined in the womb he preached the same Lord   
   by his movements."   
   --Maximus of Turin (died between 408-423 AD)(excerpt from SERMON 5.4)   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   June 24th - St. John the Baptist   
      
   The birth of Saint John was foretold by Saint Gabriel, Archangel of   
   the Lord, to his father, Zachary, who was offering incense in the   
   Temple. The son of Zachary was to be the prophesied Messenger, Zachary   
   was told, whose mission would prepare the way for Christ. Before he   
   was born into the world John had already begun to live for the   
   Incarnate God; even in the womb he recognized the presence of Jesus   
   and of Mary, and leaped with joy at the glad coming of the Son of man.   
   Before Christ’s public life began, a divine impulse sent Saint John   
   into the desert; there, with locusts for his food and wearing   
   haircloth, in silence and in prayer, he chastened his soul. In his   
   youth he remained hidden, because He for whom he waited was also   
   hidden.   
      
   Then, as crowds broke in upon his solitude, he warned them to flee   
   from the wrath to come, and gave them the baptism of penance, while   
   they confessed their sins. At last there stood in the crowd One whom   
   Saint John did not know, until a voice within told him that it was his   
   Lord. He affirmed: “I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize   
   with water said to me, ‘He upon whom thou wilt see the Spirit   
   descending and abiding, He it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ”   
   With the baptism of Saint John, Christ began His voluntary abasement   
   for the sins of His people; and Saint John indeed saw the Holy Ghost   
   descend, under the visible form of a dove, indicating in the humble   
   Jesus of Nazareth the divine Perfection of the peaceable Eternal King   
   and High Priest. Then the Saint’s work was done. He had but to point   
   his own disciples to the Lamb, he had only to decrease as Christ   
   increased. He saw all men leave him and go after Christ. “I told you,”   
   he said, “that I am not the Christ. The friend of the Bridegroom   
   rejoices hearing the Bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, is fulfilled.”   
      
   Saint John was cast into the fortress of Herod on the east coast of   
   the Dead Sea by the tyrant whose crimes he had rebuked; he would   
   remain there until beheaded at the will of a girl and her cruel   
   mother. During this time of imprisonment, some of his disciples   
   visited him. Saint John did not speak to them of himself, but sent   
   them to Christ, that they might witness His miracles and hear His   
   doctrine, proofs of His mission. After Saint John’s death, the Eternal   
   Truth pronounced the panegyric of the Saint who had lived and breathed   
   for Him alone: “Verily I say unto you, among those born of women there   
   has not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”   
      
   Reflection. Saint John was great before God because in complete   
   forgetfulness of himself he lived only for Jesus Christ, who is the   
   source of all greatness. Sacrifice every day some of your natural   
   inclinations to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, and learn little by   
   little to lose yourself in Him.   
      
   Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on   
   Butler’s Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea   
   (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   O my sweet Love, who shall prevent me from loving Thee? Shall it be my   
   body? Rather will I reduce it to dust. Shall it be my past sins? I   
   will immerse them in the sea of Thy Blood, and after that, behold my   
   body and soul, make me suffer whatever it may please Thee in order to   
   annihilate them in such a manner that they may be no obstacle to my   
   loving Thee.   
   -- St. John Eudes   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ   
   lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the   
   Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  [Galatians 2:20]   
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer in honor of St. John the Baptist,   
      
   O glorious Saint John the Baptist, greatest prophet among those   
   born of woman, although thou wast sanctified in thy mother's   
   womb and didst lead a most innocent life, nevertheless it was thy   
   will to retire into the wilderness, there to devote thyself to the   
   practice of austerity and penance; obtain for us of thy Lord the   
   grace to be wholly detached, at least in our hearts, from earthly   
   goods, and to practice Christian mortification with interior   
   recollection and with the spirit of holy prayer.  Our Father... Hail   
   Mary... Glory be...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)