The Hand of God is on Us, Too

“What, then, will this child be?” (Luke 1:66a)

I suppose that every parent who has gazed into the face of their newborn child has asked that question.

John the Baptist is one of only a few saints who have two feast days.  The first is yesterday, when we remembered his birth.  The second is his martyrdom, which we will remember on August 29.

John had a special role in salvation history.  Our scriptures tell us that he was called from the womb to be the herald of the Christ.  He was born to parents who feared that they would never have a child.  His name in Hebrew, Yochanan, means “God is gracious.”

God is indeed gracious, and God has formed each of us from the womb for a purpose.  The old Baltimore Catechism said: “God made me to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.”  The grace that we receive from Baptism and the other sacraments and our lives of prayer and virtue help us to fulfill that fundamental purpose. 

But God has also given us each a unique set of gifts and a personal call.  How will we fulfill that call?  For surely the hand of God is on each of us just as it was on John. JC