The Daily Pilgrimage

Good Morning, Pilgrim

Receive this day from God.

St. John the Baptist was born to prepare the way of Christ through penance, humility, and public testimony. He knew that he was not the Light and therefore could speak with unusual strength: his vocation was to point away from himself toward the Lamb of God.

Ask the Holy Ghost to make Our Lady better known, more deeply loved, and more faithfully honored throughout your entire life.

Formation in True Devotion - Day 205: Review and Deepening: The Latter-Day Combat beneath Our Lady

“God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honoured, than she has ever been.”
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 55

Ora — Begin with Prayer

Offer the day before spending it

Prayer gives the day its right beginning and its right end. Before work, conversation, news, or distraction claims the mind, adore the Blessed Trinity and offer every prayer, work, joy, suffering, and temptation to Jesus through Mary. Ask your Guardian Angel for help, and place the souls and needs entrusted to you beneath God's will.

Begin simply. Make the Morning Offering through the hands of Our Lady. Pray the Three Hail Marys for purity and final perseverance, ask your Guardian Angel to govern the senses and imagination, and name the soul or intention for which today's prayers and sacrifices will be offered. Do not rush these acts merely because they are familiar; let them place the whole day beneath God before the world begins to claim it.

O Lord, through St. John the Baptist, straighten what is crooked in me. Give me penitence, fearless truth, and joy in becoming smaller so that Thou mayest be seen.

Quote of the Day

“Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest.”
Zachary, Luke 1:76, Douay-Rheims

Today's Full Breviary Sermon or Proper Lesson

The voice kindled before the rising Sun.

Matins - Second Nocturn - Nativity of St. John the Baptist

The verified Breviary witness for this observance is identified below. A complete English transcription has not yet been admitted, so no excerpt or summary is presented as though it were the full appointed text.

St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, and St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Sermon on St. John the Baptist and Commentary on St. Luke

“He was a burning and a shining light.”

• The Breviary keeps St. John Baptist's birth because his very beginning was hallowed: he was sent from God to bear witness to the Light.
• St. Augustine teaches that John's leaping, birth, and witness show the Law bearing testimony to Christ and the morning star heralding the Sun of righteousness.
• St. Ambrose teaches that John received his name from God, belonged to a sacred priestly line, and was called Prophet of the Highest before he could speak in ordinary childhood.

Become a voice, not a rival light. St. John Baptist teaches hidden sanctification, penitential preparation, fearless witness, and joy in pointing away from self toward Christ.

Walk with the Church

The Church has already begun praying. Enter her prayer.

Today the Roman year keeps Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Receive the observance as the Church gives it: first understand what is commemorated, then let its doctrine and worship shape the day.

Roman Martyrology

June 24

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist, precursor - of our Lord, son of Zachary and Elizabeth, who, while yet in his mother's womb, was filled with the Holy Ghost. — At Rome, in the time of Nero, the commemoration of many holy martyrs, who were accused of having set fire to the city, and cruelly put to death in various manners by the emperor's order. Some were covered with the skins of wild beasts and 184 JUNB. lacerated by dogs; others were fastened to crosses, others again were delivered to the flames to serve as torches in the night. All these were disciples of the Apostles, and the first fruits of the martyrs, which the Roman Church, a field so fertile in martyrs, offered to God before the death of the Apostles. — In the same city, the holy martyrs Faustus and twentythree others. — At Satalis, in Armenia, seven saintly brothers, martyrs: Orentius, Heros, Pharnacius, Firminus, Firmus, Cyriacus and Longinus, who owe their martyrdom to the emperor Maximian. Because they were Christians, they were deprived of the military cincture by his command, separated from one another, hurried away to various places, and in the midst of painful trials, found their repose in the Lord. — In the diocese of Paris, at Creteil, the martyrdom of the Saints Agoardus and Aglibertus, with a multitude of others of both sexes. — At Autun, the demise of St. Simplicius, bishop and confessor. — At Lobbes, St. Theodulphus, bishop. — At Stilo, in Calabria, St. John, surnamed Therestus, distinguished for his fidelity to the monastic rule, and for his sanctity.

Gospel of the Day

Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest.

Nativity of St. John the Baptist - Luke 1:57-68

“And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest.”

Ask St. John to make you smaller in the right way. The soul loses nothing when Christ becomes greater.

Learn from Today's Saint or Feast

St. John the Baptist

Forerunner of Our Lord and preacher of penance.

St. John the Baptist was sent before Christ to prepare His way by preaching penance and bearing witness to the Lamb of God.

His life shows austerity, humility, public confession of truth, and willingness to decrease so that Christ may be known.

Ask St. John to make you smaller in the right way. The soul loses nothing when Christ becomes greater.

Breviary Witness for the Day

The forerunner born to prepare the way.

Matins - Nativity of St. John the Baptist

• The Breviary office of St. John's Nativity rejoices in the birth of the prophet who prepares the way of the Lord.
• His witness teaches humility, penance, and the joy of decreasing so Christ may be known.

Prepare the way for Christ by becoming smaller in the right way. The witness loses nothing when the Light is better seen.