Today is the Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist – one of only three birthdays we celebrate on the liturgical calendar. John is the voice which proclaims the Word. The great Scripture scholar Origen once wrote about the deep unity between John and his cousin Jesus:

[A]s the Saviour is speech, John is voice. John himself invites me to take this view of him, for to those who asked who he was, he answered, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord! make His paths straight!” . . . A voice must be perceived with the ears if the mind is afterwards to receive the speech which the voice indicates. Hence, John is, in point of his birth, a little older than Christ, for our voice comes to us before our speech. But John also points to Christ; for speech is brought forward by the voice. . . . In a word, when John points out Christ, it is man pointing out God, the Saviour incorporeal, the voice pointing out the Word. (Commentary on John 26)

Today we are called to be the “voice” which proclaims the Word and prepares others to receive him. St. John the Baptist, pray for us!