In the appointed readings for today in the Lectionary is the story of John the Baptist. He is portrayed as a wee bitty mad usually. He wore animal skins and ate locusts and the sane bits were paving the way for someone after him (Jesus) and baptising Jesus in the River Jordan. I lean towards his 'wee bitty mad side', I must confess. Being a psychoanalyst I look to his parental upbringing yet we know little of his childhood at all. We know that his parents were probably devout Jews: Zacharia and Elizabeth and that Elizabeth was a cousin of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We recall Mary's trip to see her cousin Elizabeth who was also pregnant then with John and how she reacted to Mary's exciting news. I often wonder what Mary said to her cousin? However, I would love to have met the devout hermit John the Baptist for he may have been a 'wee bitty mad' but he baptised folk with the Holy Spirit so he was years ahead of his time and would have been seen then as a renegade in the Synagoge. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit and foretold the coming of Jesus, the Messiah and knew when he met Jesus, who he was. I would have loved to have sat with him on the banks of the River Jordan and chatted to him about his visionary experiences and of his fervent spiritual life. We give little attention to this holy man, yet we can glean so much by association, just the same as with Joseph, step-father of Jesus.
