First reading: Isaiah 49, 1-6

"Islands, listen to me, pay attention, remotest peoples. The Lord called me before I was born, from my mother’s womb he pronounced my name.

He made my mouth a sharp sword, and hid me in the shadow of his hand. He made me into a sharpened arrow, and concealed me in his quiver."

He promises that a new servant of the Lord is coming, someone who will really restore the city of Zion. Applied to Jesus, but also his forerunner, John The Baptist.

He was to be a voice crying in the wilderness, to make way the way for the Lord. Make way for the action of grace in souls around him. This is why he was calling to repentance. But we can also picture him as a child, contemplate him playing with Jesus, his cousin. Don't say much, just contemplate them...

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Lyncroft centre, Toronto, June 24, 2021

Music: Andrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)

For more meditations, check my channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/EricNicolai/videos

Thumbnail: Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, sometimes called The Burlington House Cartoon, 1499 (National Gallery in London)