John the Baptist

The Christmas tree is up in St. Peter's Square!

Sunday Angelus – December 9, 2012

John the Baptist: The Voice of One Crying out in the Wilderness

 

Blessed Second Sunday of Advent (sorry this is a little late)!  The theme of this week’s Angelus message revolved around John the Baptist, one of the two liturgical Advent figures who help us to prepare for the coming of the Son of God (the other is our Blessed Mother).  Pope Benedict XVI expounded upon the relationship of Jesus with John the Baptist particularly found in Luke.  In Luke, we read in his infancy narrative about the close connection with Jesus and John the Baptist, which is further revealed at the beginning of Christ’s ministry.  The Holy Father points out that this setting is particularly important because it not only helps us to understand that John is the last of the prophets, but also represents the whole priesthood of the Old Covenant for men to prepare their hearts for the New Covenant inaugurated by Jesus.  Within all of the history that Luke provides in his gospel “lies the true great event, the birth of Christ, which his contemporaries will not even notice.  By God the great men of history form the backdrop to the small”. 

John the Baptist is “voice of one crying out in the wilderness”.  He is not the Word of God, but he has a very important role of preparing men to receive the Word, to make straight the paths before Him.  His role, the Holy Father reiterates, is always in relation to Christ.  Quoting Saint Augustine, he said, “John is the voice. Instead of the Lord says: ‘In the beginning was the Word’ (John 1:1).  John is the voice that passes away, Christ is the eternal Word who was in the beginning.  If you take the word away from the voice, what is left?  A faint sound.  The voice without the word strikes the hearing, but does not build up the heart” (Sermon 293, 3).  We must make room in our hearts to hear his voice and to welcome Jesus.  “In a consumerist society, where we seek joy in things, the Baptist teaches us to live in an essential way, so that Christmas is not only experienced as an outward party, but as the feast of the Son of God who came to bring peace, life, and true joy to people.” 

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us!