Friday, June 23, 2017

A Burning and Shining Light [Repost]

[The supplanting of that most ancient celebration of the Vigil of St. John's Nativity by the Sacred Heart devotional feast (due to a peculiarity of the current calendar year) prompted this repost of last year's praise of the Savior's forerunner, that great man who was so close to Christ's heart and mind. Perhaps no saint is more needed in our current trial, where even ostensibly traditional churchmen wink at divorce and adultery.]

(Pierre Puvis de Chavannes)
St. John’s Eve is tonight, a celebration of the Nativity of the Forerunner. No other saint’s birth is celebrated in the liturgical kalendar, apart from the nativities of Christ and Mary. If the Josephites have their way, the stepfather of Christ will someday receive a similar feast, but for now we are spared that indignity.

Among those born of women, none have risen greater than John the Baptist, who was filled with the Holy Spirit in his sainted mother’s womb. None deserve to have universal side-chapels opposite the Virgin more than John, which would be a magnificent continuation of the ancient iconographic tradition of the Deësis. While the pre-ministerial years of Our Lord are shrouded in shadow, we know that he expressed a great affection for his cousin with many compliments:
“For John came to you in the way of justice, and you did not believe him.” (Mt. 21) 
“He was a burning and a shining light, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.” (Jn. 5) 
“The baptism of John, was it from Heaven, or from men?” (Mk. 11) 
“Amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.” (Lk. 7) 
“What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? a prophet? yea I tell you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.’” (Mt. 11)
Angel, Burning Light, More Than a Prophet, Friend of the Bridegroom—the Forerunner is given the Messiah’s stamp of approval at every opportunity, even though John himself says that “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn. 3). But “he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Mt. 23), and thus the Church has historically placed him opposite the Virgin herself in his exalted intercessory position.

One can easily imagine The Baptist in a desert place as a young man, preparing for the mission ahead of him. Like the later desert hermits, the Devil must have sent his craftiest lieutenants against him, perhaps wondering if his imperviousness to temptation meant he was the promised Messiah.

John was a martyr, but not for baptizing nor for prophesying the Christ. He was murdered for one simple, repeated declaration: “It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.” God could have permitted John to live well into the new dispensation, to witness the Crucifixion and Pentecost, and to be finally martyred as a Prophet of the Risen Christ. Perhaps it was not fitting that John should outshine the Twelve, or perhaps it was most fitting that the prelapsarian tradition of marriage should be witnessed bloodily by a sinless man even as Jesus was reestablishing its pre-Mosaic form. The strumpet Salome was herself the product of a broken marriage, a fitting image of contemporary times.

Even long after his death, the bones of St. John produced so many miracles that Julian the Apostate began to burn and pulverize them before the remaining relics were rescued. Today his cult has been pulverized: his feast cheapened into a yearly bonfire party, when it is celebrated at all, and his relics called into question by thoughtless bishops.
“For Herod feared John, knowing him to be a just and holy man, and kept him. And when he heard him, did many things, and he heard him willingly.” (Mk. 6)
But for the craftiness of Herod’s concubine, John would have lived and probably converted the king to repentance. Elijah, too, was harassed constantly by the witch-queen Jezabel. He escaped the persecution of the prophet-killer by a fiery chariot, but the Second Elijah was made to suffer and die for the perpetuation of the lie of Herodias’ marriage.

Centuries later, his namesake John Chrysostom would denounce the neo-pagan queen Aelia Eudoxia, who in her turn would depose and banish the bishop. “Again Herodias raves,” he preached, “again she is troubled; she dances again; and again desires to receive John’s head in a charger.” The golden-mouthed John would eventually die in exile from his bishopric.
“What peace? so long as the fornications of Jezabel thy mother, and her many sorceries are in their vigor.” (II Kg. 9)
There will be no peace until the wicked queen is thrown by her unmanned slaves to the dogs. There will be no peace until the birth of a true prophet is celebrated, until his father’s dumbness is released and his mother’s childless shame is removed.

Herod feared John, so did Herodias, and so should we.


10 comments:

  1. I do not know much about the Empress Aelia Eudoxia, but she was not certainly neo-pagan, just anti-Chrysostom.

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    1. I wrote this piece a year ago, so I don't exactly remember why I called her that. Perhaps I was sarcastically comparing her to the neo-pagans pretending to be Catholics, today.

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  2. Great piece, J. Kudos.

    It used to depress ABS that Chrysostom had been essentially silenced owing to fear of the Jews (His sermons about them used to be forbidden online and were very difficult to find) but when he went to Saint Peter's and saw his statue on the Altar of the Chair of Peter, ABS was grateful (selfishly of course) that the one of the Fathers of the Church had been silenced for if he had not, prolly the ephod-wearing Paul VI would have had his statue removed.

    But to your point about divorce and remarriage, one rarely hears from nominal Catholics (i.e. Pope and Bishops) that behavior is an abomination and a mortal sin because that would be mean to say.

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  3. Great piece, J. Kudos.

    It used to depress ABS that Chrysostom had been essentially silenced owing to fear of the Jews (His sermons about them used to be forbidden online and were very difficult to find) but when he went to Saint Peter's and saw his statue on the Altar of the Chair of Peter, ABS was grateful (selfishly of course) that the one of the Fathers of the Church had been silenced for if he had not, prolly the ephod-wearing Paul VI would have had his statue removed.

    But to your point about divorce and remarriage, one rarely hears from nominal Catholics (i.e. Pope and Bishops) that behavior is an abomination and a mortal sin because that would be mean to say.

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  4. So How do we reclaim The Great Forerunner's right place in Liturgy and Private Devotion? How do we make sure that St. Joseph does not overshadow Greater Saints like St. Anne and The Old Testament Prophets?

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    1. Write novenas to St. John, encourage processions in his honor, preach on his mission and character, venerate his images, and so forth. There's no way to force devotion to a saint—even papal fiat doesn't have that effect—but we can make it more attractive by example.

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  5. Solemnities of the Sacred Heart and the birth of the Holy Forerunner are somewhat revelatory this year. Since the first one is a solemnity of the Lord its 2nd vespers precede the 1st vespers of the second one.

    That would be fine in principle but not in the case when 19th century feast precludes a 4th century(at least) one.
    Feast of Sacred Heart should've stayed in France.

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  6. Last year at the sermon on St. John's feast, I heard this very moving piece "St. John Chrisostom is the greatest and closes the line of the Prophets of the Old Testament". My apocalyptic note: does this not mean that other prophets (being able to foresee future acts that God demands be done according to His plan) after him will no longer be? The Apostles were not prophets, they are eternally Saints as are the other Saints. I believe personally that a deeper devotion to St. John will help people overcome the illusions of these end of days' false prophets. In addition The Holy Spirit through the Apostles in the New Testament did not say that we should search and discern prophets as false or true, but simply said:"beware of false prophets".
    And yea I do believe St. John lived estranged on the mountain and was physically fed by Angels. Yes.

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