Deacon Chris Ryan - Delivers today's Podcast for - 06/23/13: Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia

Good Shepherd Catholic Church 8710 Mt. Vernon Highway, Alexandria, Virginia, 22309

DO NOT BE AFRAID John came to testify to the light and prepare an upright people for the Lord. The Church has celebrated feasts in honor of John the Baptist since the fourth century. In the early Church, John was held in high esteem along with the apostles and St. Stephen. John, filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb of his mother Elizabeth, brings the children of Israel to the Lord their God. "John baptized Christ, the giver of baptism, in the waters made holy by the one who was baptized" (Preface 61, Roman Missal). Like the angel in the Gospel, we can say "Do not be afraid," for John is born anew to herald the message of repentance and conversion that leads us toward our salvation. Text, Michael R. Prendergast, MTS, MA © 2006, OCP. All rights reserved.