PRAYER TO SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
Birth of St. John the Baptist
Feast: June 24
O glorious Saint John the Baptist, greatest prophet among those born of woman, although thou wast sanctified in thy mother’s womb and didst lead a most innocent life, nevertheless it was thy will to retire into the wilderness, there to devote thyself to the practice of austerity and penance.
Obtain for us of thy Lord the grace to be wholly detached, at least in our hearts, from earthly goods, and to practice Christian mortification with interior recollection and with the spirit of holy prayer.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be, etc.
O most zealous Apostle, who, without working any miracle on others, but solely by the example of thy life of penance and the power of thy word, didst draw after thee the multitudes, in order to dispose them to receive the Messias worthily and to listen to His heavenly doctrine.
Grant that it may be given unto us, by means of the example of a holy life and the exercise of every good work, to bring many souls to God, but above all those souls that are enveloped in the darkness of error and ignorance and are led astray by vice.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.
O Martyr invincible, who, for the honor of God and the salvation of souls, didst with firmness and constancy withstand the impiety of Herod even at the cost of thine own life, and didst rebuke him openly for his wicked and dissolute life; by thy prayers obtain for us a heart, brave and generous, in order that we may overcome all human respect and openly profess our faith in loyal obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ, our divine Master.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.
V. Pray for us. Saint John the Baptist,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
O God, who hast made this day to be honorable in our eyes by the Nativity (or commemoration) of blessed John, grant unto Thy people the grace of spiritual joy, and direct the minds of all Thy faithful into the way of everlasting salvation. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Indulgence of 3 years; indulgence of 5 years once a day, if the prayers are said with the intention of completing a triduum; plenary indulgence on the usual conditions, at the close of the triduum.
St. John The Baptist
St. Luke tells us in his Gospel that John was conceived in a miraculous manner and that his parents were Zachary and Elizabeth.
He spent his youth in the desert, and at the age of 30 came to Judea and preached near the Jordan.
He exhorted the people to do penance because the kingdom of God was at hand. He baptized the Savior in the Jordan.
He rebuked Herod Antipas for taking to himself Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip; at the request of the dancing daughter of Herodias he was imprisoned and beheaded.
John the Baptist is the only saint whose birthday is observed by the Church; he is the only saint who was cleansed from original sin in his mother’s womb and who consequently was holy at his birth.
The Gospel describes the joy caused by his birth, and recalls that at the circumcision he did not receive the name of his father, as was customary among the Jews, but the name designated by the angel.
He was to be the precursor of the Lord, a mission prefigured by that of Isaias and destined for him by God even before his birth.
The Introit tells us that God made John’s “month like a sharp sword.” John was uncompromising in his attitude towards sin, condemned fearlessly his incredulous and adulterous generation, and accepted martyrdom rather than flatter or condone the vices of the rich and the mighty.
