June 24th - St. John The Baptist By: Johnathan Alapatt

John the Baptist was born in the late 1st century BC. His parents were St. Elizabeth and Zechariah, a priest. He preached in the wilderness and wore clothes of camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey. He also used to baptize people in the Jordan River and used to say that someone far greater than him would come and baptize all of you with Holy Spirit, not water.  When Jesus comes to be baptized, John says that Jesus should baptize him, but Jesus refuses and wants John to baptize him. He proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand and that people should repent over their sins so that God can forgive them. He rebuked Herod for marrying his brother’s wife, Herodias when he died. Herodias was angry and wanted to put John to death, but Herod did not let her, so instead, he put him to jail. One day, Herodias’s daughter, Salome danced in front of Herod and his guests during a party. Herod was so delighted with her that he told her that she could have anything she wanted in the entire kingdom. Salome went to her mother for advice, and she told her to have John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Herod was shocked, but he had to stick to his promise. He beheaded John and gave it to Salome, who gave it to Herodias. Before John died, he had many disciples who followed him, but soon they became Jesus’s disciples. John said that he must become less, while Jesus should become more. John the Baptist teaches us to be humble when he tells Jesus that he should baptize him. We should all be humble, because it can lead us to good things.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER 
O St. John the Baptist, you were so humble and meek at heart, help us to be like you in these times of struggle. In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen