The Feast of St. John the Baptist / Summer Institute

St. Vladimir’s Seminary
Crestwood, New York

June 24, 1998

St. Vladimir Seminary
Crestwood, New York

Barrenness and prophecy are two interconnected themes which permeate today’s feast. Today we celebrate the birth of the Lord’s forerunner and baptizer. Today we join all the faithful who gather around the throne of the Lord to praise the greatest of all prophets.

From the barrenness of Elizabeth the living God reveals His power and glory. From the barrenness of Elizabeth we are taught that the love of God restores fruitfulness to the whole creation, for sin and death had rendered all of creation barren. The reign of death aborted all life which was destined from all eternity to abide in the bosom of God. But today we bear witness to the unfolding of the creation’s renewal which is affirmed in the birth of John the Baptist. What had been bound to death now reflects its true identity. From the barrenness of Elizabeth we discover the raising up of life. And it is this life born of human parents who will announce the coming of the one eternally begotten from the unoriginate Father and who by the Holy Spirit was born in the flesh from a virgin mother.

By the will and energies of the triune and tripersonal God the barren womb of Elizabeth is filled with life. Celebrating the nativity of Saint John must compel us to be a people who ceaselessly thank God who has delivered us from the horrible barrenness of death which seeks not only our biological demise but also strives to smother all spiritual and therefore artistic creativity. It is spiritual creativity expressed in words, images, movements and sounds which raises the human person above the opaque veils that prevent the human spirit from peering and ultimately entering the Kingdom of God.

As members of the living, resurrected body of Christ we are entrusted to proclaim that the barrenness of creation has been filled with life. From creation’s desolation God has brought into its midst the great prophet John who prepared the way of the God-man. Like St. John, we are to continue to announce the prophetic word which awakens the creation from its barren slumber. Like the Prophet and Baptist we are to lead an anxious and searching creation to a repentance that enables it to enter the embrace of the Life Giver.

Saint John prepared Israel for the coming of the Messiah. His call to repentance and baptism formed a faithful remnant that would recognize and receive the Messiah. It is this remnant that provided the human foundation of the Church. Now we are entrusted to call the world to repentance and the baptism of water and the Spirit. Through this repentance and baptism we prepare ourselves and the creation for the Lord’s glorious second coming. In this second period of preparation all spiritual and artistic creativity become words of radiant hope. These words uttered from the divine silence proclaim and reveal regenerated, transfigured life born from the barrenness of sin and death. Here lies the joy of our feast. Here is the beginning and end of the mission of the Church.

Amen!