Gospel: Jn 1:6-8,19-28
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but a witness of the light. This is the testimony that John the Baptist bore when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He acknowledged and did not deny who he was. He affirmed, “I am not the Messiah.” Again they asked him, “Who are you, then? Are you Elijah?” He answered, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” They said to him, “Then tell us who you are, so that we may bring an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” John answered them, “I am the voice crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’.’, as the prophet Isaiah announced”. The envoys, who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, asked him, “Then why do you baptize, if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but in your midst is one whom you do not know, one who comes after me, whose sandal straps I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany, on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Fruit: Like John the Baptist, let us seek during this Advent to be that witness of light in the midst of so much darkness caused by division among people.
Guidelines for reflection:
The radical groups of the time, considered in the Gospel as “the sect of the Pharisees”, were very uneasy because a charismatic character, such as John the Baptist, was proclaiming a message of conversion. These sectarian groups lived in the darkness of a rigid message, full of formulas, regulations, many regulations without spirit. John arrived as a light in the midst of the darkness, bringing a living and incarnate message, preparing the way for Jesus.
1. That all might believe through him
For the eyes of the world, in any era, the figure of John the Baptist is that of a loser, someone that if we saw him today on the street we would turn the other way. And the fact is that our era has taught us practically by all means that we come to this world to be winners, to win and not to lose. Society presents us with world media figures where losing is not the goal. We are taught that we must have clear goals that lead us to triumph, to the immediate satisfaction of what we have accomplished, to have many “likes” to be somebody. And a figure like John the Baptist would be the opposite of these worldly expectations. Even from a merely human point of view, John the Baptist is not a protagonist, but a secondary character. His human and spiritual greatness lies in the fulfillment of his mission: to be a witness of something greater, of someone much more important: Jesus. And he knew very well that your What image do we have of John the Baptist?
2. He was not the light, but a witness of the light.
It must be recognized that John the Baptist was a restless, charismatic character, who attracted many people by his way of presenting the message and by the very message he announced. Conversion was a strong word, forgotten by the sectarian groups that only observed the normative rigorism of the law and that should be the guarantors of a people close to God. On the contrary, the people felt far from God, forgotten, wounded within themselves. No one honestly cared about them. John came to shake everyone's conscience, and who likes to be taken out of their comfort zone, who lets their conscience be shaken? Pope Francis insists that these are times to heal wounds and not to close doors. Characters like John show us that preaching conversion arouses restlessness, but a necessary restlessness to look inside to see if there is something to change, something to improve before God. It is about bringing light to the interior, making an examination of conscience, in order to be witnesses of that light in our society.
3. To strengthen the way of the Lord
When the light is turned on in a conscience that has been in darkness (in sin), those things, attitudes, orientations that must be corrected, straightened out, become evident. The light shows us that perhaps we have strayed from the way of the Lord. The way of the Lord is not just any way. The way of the Lord is the one prepared by John the Baptist, and it is the way that Christ shows us with his life, death and resurrection. It is the way of the Church through the ages. Unfortunately, society shows us multiple ways and they are not always the ways of the Lord. It is painful to recognize, with humility, that perhaps our way, the one we have chosen, is not entirely in conformity with the way of the Lord. It is hard to recognize that it is that path we have chosen of comfort at any cost, of triumphing over any other circumstance -and sometimes it is a triumph achieved by causing others to stumble-. It is not just a matter of straightening up, but of returning to the way of the Lord.
Purpose: This week of Advent, to make a profound examination of conscience to go to the sacrament of reconciliation and thus straighten my path, to return to the way of the Lord.
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