This month’s saint at Mom Things Through Christ is St John the Baptist. This month, we remember and celebrate his birthday. Did you know there are only three people who the Catholic Church honours on their birthday? They are Jesus, Mary, and John the Baptist. While all these people had miraculous conceptions, they were not the only ones who did. The reason we celebrate their birthday is because these three people were the only ones to be born without sin in all of history.
How do we know John the Baptist was born without sin? The Gospel of Luke tells of how the Angel Gabriel came to his father, Zechariah, with a message from God, saying “even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:15). And if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, there can be no room for sin, since sin separates us from God and the Holy Spirit is God.
But this isn’t something that happened to John the Baptist because he was a special person. He was filled with God’s Spirit because God had important work to do through him, and that was to declare the coming of Jesus and call people to repentance.
How can we fill ourselves and encourage our children to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to do God’s work? If we want to be filled with His Spirit and do His work, we must stay close to God. We can do this by accessing the sacraments: go to reconciliation and receive Jesus in the Eucharist often. We can also read the word of God and meditate on the lives of saints. We should also keep praying, especially inviting the Holy Spirit into our lives. Most importantly, I think we should be sharing these spiritual activities with our children, or at least not hiding it from them.
In this way, we will be models of people working to empty ourselves of selfishness, of impatience, of fear, of all the things that take up the room we could be giving to God. It is a long and ongoing process, but if we keep at it, one day, we will also be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Talking points
- When did you last feel like God’s Spirit was with you? What was it like?
- What are some things taking up space in your heart that you could give to God?
- When was the last time you asked the Holy Spirit to come into your life? Let’s take a minute now to pray together for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!
Mom Things Through Christ 