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| John the Baptist Proclaiming Repentance |
As we anticipate celebrating his birth, we thank Jesus for the gift of life, God's eternal life. We have so much to be thankful for. Yet many people lack what we take for granted. Yes, this season especially is a time to rejoice and share our blessings.
When you hear the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, remember there’s a story behind it. I share this each year because Christians still are persecuted in some places for their faith.
Catholics in Protestant England could not practice their faith openly for more than two centuries. So someone wrote The Twelve Days of Christmas which has two levels of meaning: one secular; the other, religious. Guess what the numbers symbolize; here’s a hint:
A partridge in a pear tree is…Jesus Christ.
The two turtle doves are the New and Old Testaments.
Three French hens stand for faith, hope, love.
Four calling birds are the four Gospels.
Look up the rest and play a game with children/grandchildren to see how well they can remember.
The word of God from Isaiah takes us back probably to the sixth century before Jesus (the 500s). Jerusalem had experienced immense destruction. Yet the author speaks about new beginnings: the desert will bloom; the wilderness will burst with life. The messiah will come. The author may be asking us: what message do we proclaim through our attitudes and behaviors?
James in his letter urges us to practice patience like the farmer who plants and works with nature to bring forth a harvest of produce. Patience! Even better, perseverance!
In the Gospel, John the Baptizer announces that he is the voice in the wilderness who prepares the way for the messiah. He cried out to the people who came to the waters of the Jordan River, “repent,” live an other-centered, God-centered life. And when Jesus walked along the Jordan, John pointed to Jesus as being the sacrificial Lamb of God, through whose bloody death/glorious resurrection we have a right relationship with God.
John prepared the way for Jesus, the bridge between two covenants that created a special relationship between God and us.
John challenges us to be heralds of Jesus, evangelizers, missionary disciples, in our families, our workplaces our communities by the manner in which we live. We are called to prepare the way of the Lord so that Jesus Christ, gloriously alive, can enter into our “hearts” and those of our fellow human beings.
This season, there’s no better place to begin again than in our own families, by creating an even better sense of togetherness, by cherishing people more deeply for who they are, and by reaching out to one another with a helping hand and praying together – especially at Sunday liturgies.
