Daily Gospel Reflection for June 24, 2025: Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Zechariah the Baptist doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?

Our names are important. I’ve often said that my Protestant parents foresaw my future when they gave me quite a Catholic name at birth: Catherine Marie. My conversion was inevitable.

Many years ago, I remember my best friend and I made up names for ourselves, a kind of alter ego. We would be transformed into different - cooler - people if only we had been named Shannon or Amy.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were given a great gift - a son they believed they would never have. When the angel appeared to Zechariah, he told him that his son’s future would be “great in the sight of the Lord” and that his name would be John.
And they were faithful to their end of the deal - this son, this beautiful gift from God that changed their life - they would name him John as the angel foretold. This shocked the community as it flew in the face of tradition. Everyone assumed he would be named after Zechariah, his father, and would carry on the family name. But the Lord had other plans.

It’s unlikely that an angel appeared to you when you became pregnant and foretold the baby’s future and their name. But God has a plan for your child, for mine, and for all of us. Our names are a part of who we are.

I couldn’t have foreseen the men our boys would grow to be. Whatever I could have planned for them, God’s plans were better, bigger, and full of His goodness. Trusting God’s plans for their lives sometimes seems impossibly hard. I want to impart my wisdom and plans because I know what’s best - except I don’t. I can never love them as much as God loves them.

Ponder:

Are we living as if we trust God’s plan for us and our children? How would our lives change if we trusted Him just an inch more?

Pray:

St. John the Baptist, you lived your life wholly and fully trusting in God’s promise. Remember us and help us to believe in His goodness for our lives.

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