Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

"His name is John" - Circumcision of St John the Baptist

Readings: Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 138:1-3,13-15; Acts 13:22-26; Luke 1:57-66,80

Every morning of our Dominican lives, we along with all other religious and those who observe the Divine Office, sing of Saint John the Baptist when we pray the following lines from the Benedictus:

As for you, little child
you shall be called a prophet of God,
the Most High.
You shall go ahead of the Lord
to prepare his ways before Him,

To make know to His people their salvation
through forgiveness of all their sins,
the loving-kindness of the heart of our God
who visits us like the dawn on high...
(Luke1:76-78).

It is both striking and fitting that each day as we sing of the mission of John the Baptist that he should remain nameless. It is striking because he was the last and the greatest of the prophets, and the forerunner of the Saviour. It is striking because his father, Zechariah, was a Temple priest and the message of John’s birth is given to him in the liturgy – a more auspicious lineage and annunciation than that of Christ and futhermore his name was decreed by God to Zechariah before his birth. Zechariah, though struck mute on John’s annunciation for his lack of faith, was rewarded for his fidelity to God’s will at John’s circumcision, insisting that he be named John  – and yet each morning we name him not.

Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Norwich

Why, then, is it fitting that we do not name John when we sing of his mission each morning of our lives? It is fitting because it is characteristic of the way John lived his life. John’s greatness consisted in his always pointing to the one who was greater than him. John went into the wilderness and the crowds flocked from far and wide to be baptised by him, and yet still he pointed to the one who was to follow him, the one whose sandals he felt unworthy to bear. John’s whole disposition and mission is summed up in his words: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

John like all the great saints points beyond himself to Jesus Christ. As such he is a model for Christian living. At this time of year Dominican students would do well to remember his example; for another daily feature of Dominican life for the students in formation at this time in every term is exams! John reminds us of the reason we study diligently throughout the term: not for our personal glory in gaining a summa cum laude, or some other honour, but for the sake of being effective preachers of the Gospel. We study not for our own personal satisfaction, but so that we might pass on the fruits of our study to others; neatly summed up in the Dominican motto: Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere.

Baptism of the Lord

Readings at Mass: Isaiah 42:1-4; Psalm 28; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17

I have always found it peculiar that Jesus was baptised. After all, why would the Son of God need to be baptised, if he were born without sin? Logically, Jesus wouldn’t have much need to be baptised, as Baptism is a thing for ‘normal’ people. Not something you would think God made man would need or desire. However, despite his objections, John the Baptist eventually gives in to Jesus’ request to Baptise him in this stretch of the river Jordan, as we hear in this Sunday’s gospel. In a discourse on the Theophany by pseudo-Hippolytus, Water and the Spirit, Hippolytus reflects on the Baptism of the Lord,

That Jesus should come and be baptised by John is surely cause for amazement. To think of the infinite river that gladdens the city of God being bathed in a poor little stream; of the eternal and unfathomable fountainhead that gives life to all men being immersed in the shallow waters of this transient world! He who fills all creation, leaving no place devoid of his presence, he who is incomprehensible to the angels and hidden from the sight of man, came to be baptised because it was his will. And behold, the heavens opened and a voice said: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. The beloved Father begets love, and the immaterial Light generates light inaccessible. This is he who was called the son of Joseph and in his divine nature is my only Son. This is my beloved Son. Though hungry himself, he feeds thousands; though weary, he refreshes those who labour. He has no place to lay his head yet he holds all creation in his hand. By his suffering he heals all sufferings; by receiving a blow on the cheek he gives the world its liberty; by being pierced in the side he heals the wound in Adam’s side.

The baptism of babies, children and adults in holy water in our Churches, is not just a ceremony, but the greatest gift  that we can receive - our purification from inter-generational original sin, as well as sins we have committed in our lives if we are baptised as adults. Just as Jesus said that it is fitting He is Baptised in this way, doing all that righteousness demands, we should understand that the issue of individual ‘choice’ in relation to Baptism is not really what Jesus envisaged. For instance, parents might take the view that infants are not yet capable of making a conscious act of accepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, so why 'force' Baptism on them? That is not what Christ asks for. It is not up to us to say ‘no’ to Jesus when he asks in Luke 18:15, “let them come unto me”, just as John the Baptist couldn’t say no to Jesus’ request to baptise him in the Jordan. Surely the fact that Christian Baptism is illegal in some parts of the world, and carries such a danger, of either an individual being ostracised by their family or effectively sentenced to death if they are Baptised, means that there is something powerful and transcendent about this Christian ritual. No one can ever be un-baptised, it is a permanent mark on our soul, and is our welcoming into the Church. What Catholics (whether practising or lapsed) and agnostics should accept, is that even with our societal concept of individual choice being important, our cultural position on individual freedom of religion and ‘working it out for ourselves’ doesn’t really work for Baptism. We need to let Baptism happen for infants and young children, as Christ asked us to bring them to him. This has has been the tradition since early Christian times, and although the ‘choice’ aspect has an important weighting in our own culture, we just have to get on with baptising the young in our churches, as we are asked to.

Third Sunday of Advent: Gaudete Sunday

Readings: Isaiah 35:1-6,10; Psalm 145:6-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

Gaudete Sunday takes its name from the latin ‘gaudete’ which means “rejoice”. The entrance antiphon of the Mass today begins with “Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete”. This can be translated as “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice”. Pope Benedict XVI highlighted that these words of St Paul urge Christians to rejoice because the Lord is coming, his glorious return is certain and will not be delayed. We wait with hope, certain of Christ’s second coming because we have experienced his first.

In preparation for the Solemnity of Christmas Day and the peak of Advent, most of us will at some point be rushing around trying to find presents for people, buying a turkey (or perhaps a vegetarian alternative). Rushing from one shop to another to get those last minute items, sometimes our consumer mission is interrupted by a street preacher or someone shouting about the need to repent, with seemingly random bible passages on the second coming. Certainly the first thought to enter my head is “I’d better walk on the other side of the street” or sometimes there might be a slight increase in my stress levels depending on what message or agenda they are trying to convey. I suspect most people walk past street preachers without giving too much notice. If serious questions were to be asked, then people aren’t usually going to ask them in the context of rushing around the high street.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, we see Jesus affirm John the Baptist as the messenger who prepared the way for Jesus the Christ. He was, perhaps, the equivalent of today’s street preachers with signs around them saying ‘repent and your sins will be forgiven’. John the Baptist denounced immoral marriage, lifestyles of vice and sin, and he demanded the repentance and baptism of his hearers on the banks of the river Jordan. The same message could perhaps be heard outside shopping centres today, but one of the key differences is the credibility and authority of John the Baptist and his preaching on what was to come. Not just another mad man wearing funny clothes, eating locusts and shouting about the end of the world. He was taken so seriously that he baptised many hundreds of people, including Jesus. Indeed, his influence extended so far that he ended up in prison for causing offence to those who held power in Galilee. John the Baptist made his hearers stop and think about their need to repent. So, as he was in prison, John could rejoice in the fact Jesus was now taking over the preaching role, but this time being much more than a prophet or messenger: someone with a deep and real working knowledge of what it is going to be like after we die, and what we can do on this world to gain access to the kingdom of heaven and everlasting life.

Perhaps in our Christmas consumer rush, we need to stop at this point of Advent and take note of what the genuine preachers are saying to us. The end of the world may be at hand, but what today is about is rejoicing about this rather than being in a state of fear. We do need, on occasion, to step back from a consumer-driven Christmas and focus on the Gospel of Christ. It is the annual cliché of course, but there is more to the festive period than buying vast amounts of presents, eating and drinking too much. We need to tune in to what preaching message challenges us, forget the deep-filled mince pies, as they don’t really matter. What does matter is that we are prepared for the end of the world, and then we can rejoice always. 

For strangely dressed, genuine preachers and the chance to repent, visit a Dominican priory near you!

Second Saturday of Advent: Things as they are

Readings: Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11; Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; Matthew 17:10-13

“Richard, when will you see things as they are?!” – so Richard’s parents berate him in the wonderful novel by Paul Horgan, Things As They Are. Richard’s parents are exhausted by his constantly seeing the magical in the mundane, the extraordinary in the ordinary. They aim to drum this out of him, to get him to be sensible and to live in reality. Yet a creeping awareness dawns on us, as we see Richard losing his child-like innocence, that really it is Richard who gets it. It is Richard who has the Catholic sensibility to detect the divine at work in the everyday.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus laments that “Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him, but treated him as they pleased; and the Son of Man will suffer similarly at their hands” (Matt 17:12)

It is a similar lack of vision to Richard’s parents that can lead us to ignore the prophetic actions of others in our midst. Brother Samuel in his post yesterday reflected on how the actions of John the Baptist and Jesus challenge us. When confronted by challenging people there can often be a tendency to write off their actions as merely eccentric or even mad. We do not want our version of a comfortable reality disturbed. When the light shines brightly, as it did for Peter, James, and John at the Transfiguration, the temptation can be to shut our eyes.

Transfiguration in St Cross, Oxford

Thus at one end of the spectrum we refuse to see the magnificence in all creation and, at the other, we dismiss that which is evidently out of the ordinary as errant or impossible. Why?  Perhaps it is because deep down we know that, when Jesus says Elijah is to restore all things, (Matt 17:11) this is not going to be a tinkering around the edges. It is not the time for God to order things in accordance with our will, but rather for us to prepare for the coming our Lord and Saviour, the one who will inaugurate the Kingdom of Heaven by his presence on earth. It is we who must have a conversion of heart and we might do well to mimic the example of those around us whom we might normally dismiss. All around us there is evidence of the Kingdom of Heaven, if only we would see things as they are.

Second Friday of Advent: Fasting and Feasting

Readings: Isaiah 48:17-19; Psalm 1:1-4,6; Matthew 11:16-19

You just can’t please some people. One can sense Our Lord’s frustration in today’s Gospel as he rebukes the crowds for their unbelief. Their hard-heartedness has left them unable to see an exemplar and prophet in their midst in the person of St. John the Baptist. Rather than be impressed by his austerity and observance of the law, they dismissed him thinking he was possessed.  

Similarly, and more troubling still, the crowds fail to accept Jesus Christ, “the Son of man”. He who, in contrast to John, had worked miracles before them - changing water into wine, and had preached a compelling message of compassion and love. Their response was to brand him “a glutton and a drunkard”, echoing the rebellious good-for-nothing type described in the book of Deuteronomy [21:18-20].  

Neither John’s abstinence nor Jesus’s mildness satisfied them. Like obstinate children, they refused to be moved. “Why?”, one might well ask. John and Our Lord were impressive all right, but perhaps they were a bit too challenging; they made the crowds feel uncomfortable. Perhaps John seemed too zealous, whereas Jesus was thought perhaps too radical - breaking all the laws.  And, after all, one wouldn’t have wanted to rock the boat too much lest the powers-that-be might get wind of it. The problem, then as now, was fear.  Maybe this is why Jesus says time and again in Scripture, “Do not be afraid!”

St. John the Baptist, Giovanni Barbieri

Given that Jesus is the person who we are called to follow, one might well wonder at the significance of John the Baptist in this account. Why did the Lord choose a more lenient life and through John demonstrate a harsher one? St. Thomas suggests three reasons. First, John did not perform miracles so he needed to lead an impressive life so that his testimony, which prepared a way for the Lord, would be accepted. Secondly, John showed one way of living the good life through abstaining from human carnal desires. John was a man of purity. But Jesus was God, and if he had taught severity, he would not have been shown to be also man so he assumed a life which emphasised his humanity. What could be more human than food and drink? Thirdly, John represented the end of the Old Testament, in which heavy burdens were imposed; but Christ was the beginning of the New Testament - with a new law - which proceeds by way of meekness.

Jesus holds up both John’s example of fasting, and his own example of eating and drinking - or feasting. Each have their place and time. In this season of Advent, we are presented with an opportunity to fast and abstain from certain pleasures in order to focus our minds on the coming of the Christ child - preparation never more needed than in contemporary culture. Such preparation will have the additional benefit of making the great feast that celebrates the the birth of Our Saviour all the more fitting.

Third Week of Advent - Thursday - Accept the Fullness of God's Plan

Readings: Isaiah 54: 1-10; Psalm 30; Luke 7: 24-30

John the Baptist holds a distinct honor in the Gospels in that he inaugurates Jesus’ public ministry. He foresees Jesus’ coming long before anyone else recognizes him. John’s prophetic witness is unmatched. His convictions are more genuine and faith more steadfast than anyone else in the Gospel aside from Christ himself. “Yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Lk 7:28).

Jesus’ statement about John does not reveal a low opinion of the Messiah’s forerunner. Quite the opposite is true. Jesus’ declaration raises God’s expectations of how we understand and accept our own Christian vocations.

Those who approached John in faith knew his baptism made them whole again. His baptism removed their sins. Their hope was to restore their relationship with God. They wanted to be as God created them and originally intended them to be: His holy and faithful people. Jesus takes their expectations and elevates them to a divine level.

Herein lies the great scandal of the Pharisees’ rejection of John’s baptism. Not only have they rejected God’s pardon (if they even recognize a need for pardon). They also fail to receive the ultimate gift of Christ: deification. These faithful people, however great their sins, come seeking reconciliation. They find God’s saving power in John’s baptism. And beyond that monumental conversion, God also makes them like Him.
He restores them and elevates them to a share in His life.

As we move closer to the Christmas Season, let us spend this remaining time contemplating what it means for Christ to take on our flesh. In doing so, he takes away our sins. Yet, Jesus’ act of removing sin from our human nature is only a footnote compared to what he adds to it: God’s very self.