Skip to content

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

The Happy Priest: John the Baptist Shows Us How to be a Witness

Free World Class Education
FREE Catholic Classes
We are called, like John, to witness to Jesus Christ

John the Baptist commands our interest because he is a witness.  By his witness, he reminds us that we are called to be witnesses.  And in any age, to be a witness is challenging.We must witness that what we have found in Christ Jesus is true, real and worth living out to the ultimate consequence. John the Baptist is still relevant for us because as in any age, our age has an urgent need for disciples like John the Baptist. 

Deacon Keith Fournier Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now >

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - Why is an obscure figure of the Bible relevant for us today?  Why does the Catholic Church, on the Second Sunday of Advent, present John the Baptist for our reflection?

Saint John the Baptist commands our interest because he is a witness.  By his witness, he reminds us that we are called to be witnesses.  And in any age, to be a witness is challenging.

When John baptized the multitudes on the banks of the Jordan, we must realize that John was not the only one baptizing and preaching.  Baptism rituals even took place at the monastery of Qumran.  However, there was something different about John the Baptist.  There was something unique about his preaching and his baptism. 

The witness of John the Baptist begins with his birth.  The miraculous circumstances of his conception and birth direct our attention to the mysterious and transcendent.  An angel announces his birth to a woman well beyond childbearing years.  His father is struck dumb for his disbelief.  As an infant, John, leaps in his mother's womb when he is in the presence of the Messiah's mother. 

Upon his birth, he is given not his father's name, but rather the name, John, which translates "Yahweh is gracious."  With the giving of this name spoken by the angel, John's father, Zechariah, recovers his power of speech. Thus the miraculous circumstances surrounding his beginnings give witness to a sacred world, a world reaching beyond time and space.

Modern man needs to experience the transcendent.  He needs to understand with his heart that there is much more to our earthly existence than the here, the  now, the material and the secular. Our experience of the beauty of the Catholic Mass should bring about this necessary encounter.  If life is restricted to only what we can see, touch, make and do, then we run the risk of leaving God out of our lives altogether.  Sunday worship could become simply a shallow social gathering of the community rather than a profound, life changing transcendent experience of mystery and redemption. 

As an adult, John's chosen surroundings bear witness to a different reality.  He is a man of the desert.  He totally separates himself from the world in order to give testimony of another world.  Within his solitude he is able to hear the voice of God.  Between the center of Judea and the Dead Sea exists one of the most austere deserts of the world. 

John the Baptist made this place his home.  His home is a testimony of what our souls must be in order to listen to God and to possess him.  Our journey during this Advent should bring about a deeper detachment from earthly creatures so that we may come closer to God.  Detachment from material things is so important if we wish to truly experience the presence of God in our lives. 

Moreover, John's manner of dressing bears witness as well.  He does not clothe himself in the garments of the leaders of his day.  And just as his location is counter-culture, going against the prevailing wisdom of his day, so also is his dress.   Through his garment of camel's hair, John shows how important it is to be simple and detached from the things of this world.  Riches make a soul soft and incapable of the rigorous walk of faith.  Obsession with the latest fad clouds our minds and prevents us from focusing on the things that are really important.
 
John's food also bears witness.  The gospels tell us that he eats locusts and wild honey.  Like his living conditions and his dress, his food is also simple.  People cannot resist a witness like John.  Many people provide messages that they themselves do not live up to.  But John not only preaches a message, he is the message.  Because his beliefs and his actions are one and the same, people listen to what he says.   He is an authentic witness because he himself is authentic.

John's preaching is a witness of the truth.  His message is effective because he is completely empty of himself.  He does not preach himself.  He points to someone beyond himself.  "I am baptizing you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I.  I am not worthy to carry his sandals" (Matthew 3: 11). 

Like Paul who comes after him, John is completely lost in the One whom he proclaims. For this very reason Jesus cries out to the crowds: "I tell you, of all the children born to women, there is no one greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he"  (Luke 7: 28).

John, the great witness, preaches the truth of Christ to the massive crowds of people that listen to him.  These are people who are hungry for the truth.  They are tired of the burdens imposed upon them by their own leaders, the Pharisees, and the foreign leaders represented by King Herod. 

Light Your Free Payer Candle for a departed loved one

What is Palm Sunday?

Live on March 20, 2024 @ 10am PDT

The human soul cannot be kept locked up in the body by repressive systems that continue to lie.  Despite the many difficulties that confront the modern world, more and more people are breaking away from the bonds created by sin, materialism and secularism, and are actually living out truly spiritual lives. 

To those seeking the baptism that John offers the people in the waters of the Jordan, God gives the multitudes an opportunity to repent of their sins.  John's baptism is a testimony of the baptism that will eventually come through Jesus Christ. "A voice of one crying out in the desert: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths'"(Matthew 3: 3).

John's ultimate witness comes in his death.  John is a man who is one with his mission and his message.  His is incapable of denying either one.  In any age the truth will always meet opposition.  Jesus makes this very clear to those wishing to be his disciples.  In any age, there are those who hear only what they want to hear. 

In any age, there are those who will do any thing in order to continue living a lie - even kill.  King Herod personifies those human beings who from the beginning of time until the end of time, choose to live a lie, rather than the truth.  From the depths of the dungeon, John's martyrdom is a testimony that every disciple of Jesus must persevere.
 
Saint John the Baptist, a difficult personage of the Bible to understand and perhaps even to relate to, is very relevant for us today.  He is a great witness precisely because he is the link between the Old and New Testaments.  He is the last of the prophets who announces the coming of the Messiah.  He is the first of the disciples who proclaims his coming: "Behold, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" (John 1: 29).

John the Baptist is still relevant for us because as in any age, our age has an urgent need for disciples like John the Baptist.  Our world has an urgent need for witnesses.

We must witness that our identity is centered on true spirituality, and that our morality derives from that spirituality.  We must witness that our faith challenges many of the values of the dominant secular culture.  We must witness that our traditions have great meaning for us.  We must witness that challenging commitments offer firm principles by which we may live our lives.  We must witness that adherence to traditional morality often comes at a considerable personal cost: perhaps of losing family, friends, even jobs.

We must witness that what we have found in Christ Jesus is true, real and worth living out to the ultimate consequence.  We must witness that our seeking solely for lasting happiness as the meaning of life is an indictment of the falsehoods of past generations.  We must witness by striving for personal holiness, authenticity and integration. 

-----

Visit Father James on the web at http://www.fatherjames.org and purchase his new book Get Serious! A Survival Guide for Serious Catholics.  Click here for the audio podcast of this homily.

---


'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'


Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online

Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Lent logo
Saint of the Day logo

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Catholic Online Logo

Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.

Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.