During the four weeks
of Advent leading up to our celebration of Jesus’ birth, we heard his
proclamation to us that we prepare the way for the Lord through penance and
good works.
Last week, as we
celebrated the baptism of the Lord, he witnessed the Spirit come down upon the
waters in the form of a dove, the heavens open up and the voice of God proclaim
that Jesus is the Beloved Son.
And, as we begin a new
year, we hear from him once again. This time he is pointing Jesus out as the
Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world.
John the Baptist is an
important figure in the gospels because he announces the coming of the Messiah.
Many of Jesus’ earliest followers were disciples of John. The Church puts the
message and example of John before us each year because he still has much to
teach us, especially as we begin a new year. In particular, there are three
points that we should take away from the gospel proclamation about John the
Baptist - that we need to repent of our sins, that we must witness to the
truth, and that we must put Jesus at the center of everything we do.
First of all, we need
to give up our sinful ways. When John appeared along the banks of the Jordan
River, he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He made
it clear to all who approached him that, once baptized, they could not return
to their former way of life. They needed to make a real and lasting change.
The message is the
same for us two thousand years later. All of us have areas of our lives that do
not reflect the love of Christ. Whether it be in our families, our schools or
workplace, we fail to respect others, to show concern for those in need or to
put the interests of others before our own. We all need to examine our
consciences daily, to review our actions and to commit ourselves to doing
better with the grace of God. Our faith is only real if it is making a
difference in the way we speak and live. John the Baptist teaches us that we
must make a real effort everyday to change our sinful behavior so that our
lives can reflect the love of our Savior who came to die for us.
Secondly, John the
Baptist teaches us that we must always speak the truth. Just as we struggle to
avoid sin in our own lives, we must point out the ways in which our society fails
to uphold the dignity of the person. Every day in our world, the rights of the
poor are being trampled on, innocent people are killed and the powerful take
advantage of the weak. As people of faith, we cannot stand idly by or keep
silent. Otherwise, we will be condoning injustice. We must speak up to defend
the innocent and the downtrodden because they are our sisters and brothers.
John the Baptist did
this unceasingly during his life. He died because he dared to criticize King
Herod for living with his brother’s wife. He spoke up because he recognized the
importance of marriage and family life. Like John, we must never fail to defend
the sanctity of marriage both by living good and holy family lives ourselves
and by speaking out against the threats our society poses to marriage such as
divorce and pornography. Our society needs people of faith with the courage to
speak the truth or else more innocent lives will be lost and more damage will
be done to the poor and needy.
Thirdly, Jesus must be
at the center of all we do. John the Baptist understood that the reason he was
sent was to give witness to the Messiah. His mission was not to gather
disciples for himself but to lead others to Jesus. So, when Jesus did finally
appear, he never failed to point him out to people and encourage them to follow
him. When he was asked whether it distressed him that his disciples were
leaving him to listen to Jesus, he replied “He must increase, and I must
decrease.” John’s whole life was centered around preparing the way for Jesus so
that, when he finally did appear, he was happy to fade into the background.
As individuals and as
a parish community, we must ask ourselves daily the question: Is everything we
are doing centered on Jesus or on ourselves? Are we more concerned about what
people think of us or what Jesus would think of us? Are we more concerned about
pleasing others or pleasing Jesus? It is very easy in the midst of all life’s
little details to forget why we exist. It is easy to lose focus when our days
are filled with so many activities. We must take time everyday to remind
ourselves of what is most important - that we know, love and serve our Savior,
Jesus. When we put Jesus at the center of our lives, everything else falls into
place.
It is for good reason
that John the Baptist is such a prominent figure in all the gospels and that
the Church places his message before us so often during the year. At the
beginning of a new year it is especially important to reflect on these three
key elements of his message - that we repent of our sins, that we speak the
truth with love and that we keep Jesus at the center of all we do. It is an
unfailing formula for growing in holiness as individuals and for drawing others
to Christ as a parish community.
So that we can have
strength to live up to this challenge, we turn to the Lamb of God. He will come
to us in the form of bread and wine at this table to nourish our souls. He is
with us as we struggle to root out sin in our lives, speak the truth and keep
our lives centered on him. We can trust that he will give us the grace and
courage necessary to live up to our calling as his followers.
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