Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time,
Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist, 24 June 2026
Isaiah 49:1-6 ><}}}}*> Acts 13:22-26 ><}}}}*> Luke 1:57-66, 80

Six months from now we celebrate Christmas because today is the birthday of the Lord’s cousin and precursor, St. John the Baptist; but, before we rejoice at the fast approaching Christmas, let us reflect first on the joy of John’s parents, relatives and local folks following his birth.

When the time arrive for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her (Luke 1:57-58)

It was indeed a great celebration for everyone in the hill country of Judah when John was born: his parents were both old and his mother Elizabeth was already barren when she conceived John.

Both parents were from the priestly family, very prominent with a great lineage. Most likely, they were the envy of their relatives and neighbors in practically having every good thing in life except a child to inherit and propagate their good name and wealth; when John was born, God gave them more than a child – here was the precursor of the Messiah, the promised Elijah who returned to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ!

It was a joy that did not come easily, with much pains and sufferings and self-doubts along the way that took a long time of waiting too.

This birth of John teaches us that behind every joy is always a great deal of sufferings, doubts, and darkness in life.

Imagine the inner turmoil within Zechariah when the angel appeared to him announcing the birth of John while incensing the Holy of Holies on the most important Jewish feast: he doubted the angel’s good news not because he had lost faith in God but simply got “tired” with God.

Zechariah was having a sort of tampo as we call it in Filipino because God did not seem to listen to his prayers for a son.

It happens with us when we have turned indifferent in our faith even with God when he seems not to care at all to our prayers and requests that we keep on failing the board exam or gets denied repeatedly in our job or visa applications. We still pray with our lips not with our heart just for the sake of praying without really believing in its efficacy, if God listens to us at all.

Or like Elizabeth who went into a self-imposed silence, withdrawing from public view during her pregnancy with John because she felt herself so unworthy of God’s blessing.

Today, the birth of John the Baptist teaches us that every disciple as a precursor of Christ is an image of God’s Suffering Servant prophesied by Isaiah:

Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the lord, my recompense is with my God (Isaiah 49:4).

There are actually three songs of the Suffering Servant in the Book of Isaiah that prefigure Jesus Christ who suffered and died and rose again on the third day. However, it is widely believed and interpreted that in the second song of the Suffering Servant we heard today, the Servant referred to is John the Baptist.

Although John recognized Jesus as the promised Christ during his baptism at Jordan, he was the first to suffer and die a martyr when thrown into prison for speaking the truth against Herod’s taking of his brother’s wife Herodias. There we find that image of God’s Suffering Servant in John’s mission and ministry, reminding us of the great difficulties and dangers in preparing the way of the Lord.

We are all a John the Baptist and a Zechariah and Elizabeth rolled into one like the Suffering Servant for we are all a forerunner of Jesus Christ.

Many times we too have felt like them in doubting our efforts in witnessing Christ and his gospel, when these seemed to have gone in vain especially today when the world is trying hard to delete God from every aspect of life.

Witnessing the gospel of Christ, speaking and fighting for what is true and good, for what is just and fair, even in simply being human and decent can already be strenuous, exhausting and often discouraging.

There are times we feel ineffective, even at the losing end only to realize later how our little efforts have actually contributed in making God’s kingdom to truly come with our life of mission and witnessing Christ because like the Suffering Servant, we have felt deep within us the certainty of God working in us, most especially of him being the Almighty One.

We have proven many times God prevails, how good always triumphs for it is when we are weak that we are strongest in Christ as St. Paul declared in one of his writings.

The next time you feel so down in life, in your mission whether in your personal life or family, in your work or in your apostolate and ministry, have a heart: like Zechariah and Elizabeth keep focused on the Lord for Christ surely comes. Rejoice in all your efforts, though little even insignificant for you and for others, they are God working in us.

Keep in mind too the meaning of the names of our main personalities today: Elizabeth in Hebrew is “God promised” while Zechariah is “God remembered” while John means “God is gracious”. Indeed, God is gracious all the time because he always remembers his promise to us. Amen. May God bless you abundantly today like Zechariah and Elizabeth!