"He Must Increase; I Must Decrease"

Those were the words of John the Baptist when his disciples came to him concerned that Jesus had started to attract larger crowds than John.  It's such an awesome thing to say, "He must increase; I must decrease" (Jn.3:30) - so incredibly noble.  It sounds so spiritually "romantic" ... but then you yourself are called to live it, and all of the air goes out of the tires.  

Each of us is going to experience times, probably many times, in our efforts to serve God when all of our plans come to nought.  As best we can tell, our hearts are in the right place; and we are using our abilities as we believe the Lord wants, but our efforts do not appear to meet with success.  But when we look around at our brothers and sisters we see just the opposite - their efforts to tell others about the Lord Jesus and to be of help to others are flourishing.  We have to beware of the Enemy at moments like that; he would love nothing more than to encourage a spiritual jealousy in our hearts.

St. Paul encouraged the us to keep our heads on straight, guarding our thoughts with "the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph.6:17).  And what does the word tells us?

• “My son, when you come to serve the LORD, prepare yourself for trials. Be sincere of heart and steadfast, undisturbed in time of adversity.  Cling to him, forsake him not; thus will your future be great. Accept whatever befalls you, in crushing misfortune be patient; For in fire gold is tested, and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation. Trust God and he will help you; make straight your ways and hope in him.” (Sir.2:1-6) 

• Not to say that any of us find ourselves in this position, but when other Christian preachers were trying to outshine Paul in proclaiming Christ, his attitude was, "What does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice" (Phil.1:18)

• "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mt.20:28)

• "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty." (Lk.17:10)

It's not our kingdom that we are building.  It is not our names that we wish to magnify.  The trials we face, the setbacks are not truly defeats; they create opportunities for us to persevere in loving the Lord, in expending ourselves for love of Him.  These are the moments when He grows our souls, transforms them to be more like His - poured out on the Cross for love of the Father ... and us.  Trials in our efforts to serve purify us.  They provide opportunity to overcome, to burn away, any residual desire we have to build our kingdoms, to make a name for ourselves, with the Fire of Love - the Holy Spirit who made saints of John the Baptist and Paul.

Come Holy Spirit, 

Love of the Father for the Son,

Love of the Son for the Father,

Soul of the Mystical Body,

Font of Life,

Fire of Love,

Sweet Anointing from Above.

Sandals at Christmas-time

As stylish as those sandals are, if you receive them a s a Christmas gift, then you will have to wait a few months to start showing them off.  It's just too cold outside.  So why do I bring them up?  Because they captured my attention in this morning's Gospel reading.  John the Baptist, when asked if he was the expected Messiah, responded, "I baptize you with water; but He Who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of Whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Lk.3:16).

Listen to the way John speaks of Jesus, the esteem in which He holds the Lord.  It's so different from the stance many of us take toward God - the "me and my main man, Jesus" mentality.  But John is 100%, absolutely, completely and totally right!  It's the only stance we can assume before Jesus, Who is "the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible ... He is before all things and in Him all things hold together ... For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell"! (Col.1:15-19)  When the Baptist later encountered Jesus, Who was seeking baptism, we are told how "John would have prevented Him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by You!'" (Mt.3:14).

But the gospels give us another scene involving sandals and baptism.  It comes during the Last Supper when Jesus took it upon Himself to remove the sandals from the Apostles' feet and begin to wash them.  Peter didn't want to see Jesus performing the job of a servant, saying "You shall never wash my feet;" and Jesus answered, "If I do not wash you, you have no part in me."  After that all Peter could say was "Lord, then not my feet only but also my hands and head!" (Jn.13:8-11).  It's a beautiful allusion to the Sacrament of Baptism where Jesus not only washes away all of our sins, but brings us into His own relationship with the Father!  (See 2 Pet. 2:14, Jn.1:13).  In the Eucharist He feeds us His own Flesh and Blood, and in Confirmation makes us participate in His anointing with the gifts of the Spirit (Is.11:2-3)! He becomes our divine Lover, the Groom of our souls (Eph.5:25-26, 32).

This isn't meant to make us so "familiar" with Jesus that ever cease kneeling in awe before Him, and praying, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me, a sinner!"  Our nearness to Him increases our awe!
Who are we that God would love us enough to take on all the misery of the human condition? To put on sandals and trod the dusty roads of Palestine?  Who am I that the Creator of the Universe, Who stands above space and time, would want to dwell in my soul?  Who am I that He would die upon a Cross to save?  I am no one ... and yet I have been made a son in the Son.  In the mind of God I am one - and you are one - worth dying for.  Oh the Love and Mercy of God!  Listen to St. Paul, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil.2:12-13).

My Advent prayer this morning?  It comes from the Mass, "Come and save us O Savior of the world."

Gabbing with My Boy about the Prophets

Two weeks ago I shared how my eleven year-old son and I were beginning to study Matthew's Gospel.  Last night we read the beginning of chapter three, where Matthew sketches the life and ministry of John the Baptist.  My son was of course fascinated with John.  Seriously, what is there for an eleven year old boy not to love?  Living off the land, clothed in camel hair, eating locusts!  The guy is awesome.  For slightly deeper commentary we turned to Dr. Edward Sri's Mystery of the Kingdom, where we read about the significance of John baptizing in the River Jordan - the river that parted to allow Joshua and the Israelites into the Promised Land, where Elijah was assumed into heaven and Elisha succeeded him as prophet, and in whose waters Naaman the Syrian was healed of his leprosy.  We talked about how Elijah was supposed to return to prepare the people for the "day of the Lord," read the prophecy in Malachi, and then how Jesus identified John the Baptist as the prophesied Elijah.  

But it was Naaman who most caught my son's attention "I want to know more about Naaman's leprosy.  Were his nose or fingers rotting off?"  I went ahead and flipped to 2 Kings and read him the full account.  (Truth told, he may have been let down by the stark details; I'm sure I deflated him with the tidbit about "leprosy" being a catch-all term for skin conditions at that time.)  As we read the account, he was wowed nonetheless at the power God displayed through Elisha.  Then we had to go back and look at how Elijah passed his ministry on to Elisha - another awesome story.  It was a blast.  And we were able to make a connection to the litany of saints we pray each morning on the drive to school.  "You're discovering what incredible men the prophets were.  That's why they're in our morning prayers - 'Elijah, John the Baptist, and all the prophets - pray for us!'"