“Joyful John”

John 3: 29: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. And so this joy of mine has been made full.” There were two recorded instances where John the Baptist rejoiced over Jesus: here, toward the end of his earthly life, and before he was born, when his pre-natal self rejoiced when Jesus’ pre-natal self visited him (or, looked at another way, when Mary visited Elizabeth [Luke 1: 39-45], an event the Church celebrates today) Perhaps this is one of the things that made John so great: He knew when to be joyful, so His life began and ended with joy!