A celebration of the feast of St. John the Baptist will be held on June 22 at 7 p.m. at Assumption Church hall in Chicopee.

John and Jesus are, of course, not the same person, but their connection is meaningful, and John’s death at the hands of powerful rulers in some ways foreshadows what is to come for Jesus.

We can also find, in the genealogies of Christ from Matthew and Luke, some interesting people in Jesus’ family tree. For instance, you might be surprised that there were several gentiles, meaning that ...