The Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist happens on June 24, 6 months before Christmas, the Nativity of the Lord.  If you read in Luke about the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, this math and the respective due dates of John and Jesus are easy enough to figure out.  What many do not realize is the placing of the feasts within the Liturgical calendar.  The Church in Rome placed Jesus' birth on December 25th for many reasons.  Cosmologically, it also makes a lot of sense.  December 24th is Three days after the winter solstice, the shortest day in the year - the one most covered in darkness.  Jesus is the Light of the World, so light increases each day after Jesus' birth.

Conversely, John's birth happens right after the summer solstice, when the light is the most present.  John is not the Light, but he comes to testify to the Light.  And in John's Gospel, John the Baptist, in testifying to this Light, says, "He must increase, and I must decrease."  And we have days that get shorter and shorter.

The hymn below has traditionally been sung on the feast of John the Baptist for well over 1500 years.  It also is historically significant in the music of the Church and of the world.  The beginning of each phrase starts on the next higher pitch.  Guido d'Arezzo used this song to teach his choir boys how to memorize the tones of the scale.  Originally, singers memorized Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, etc.  Ut eventually became Do when pedagogues form other countries adopted the practice for their choirs.  The F and C clefs that are used in Gregorian notation are really Ut and Fa clefs.

The Church has always seen the corporate worship of the Church to include the entire cosmos.  The cosmos is not a secular idea; it is the reality of creation, and all things in their truest state point to God.

As a liturgical minister, what can you do to decrease, so that He may increase?