A BURNING PASSION
These words from James Green Somerville are fitting for today's Scripture
readings:
"John the
Baptist... was just the voice, not the Messiah. So everybody's calling had
dignity to it and God seems to know better than we do what is in us which needs
to be called forth." The Gospel of Mark begins with the words of a wild
man, a desert dweller, a voice crying out in the wilderness. Clearly something
significant is about to happen for everyone, ready or not. So the point is to
get ready and be ready. Sometimes when we know something big is going to take
place it is actually comforting to get moving on it!
When we suffer great
pain and sadness, feeling hurt and alone, will we hear the news that our
heavenly Father offers comfort and consolation to us? This is good news indeed!
We need to ponder God's day of reckoning with a healthy fear and readiness.
Each of us cries out for justice while knowing that we ourselves have not
always been just. At times there are crooked roads we travel but we need to
strive to take the right path and be the person God calls us to be.
John the Baptist's
life was fueled by a burning passion - to point others to Christ Jesus and to
the coming of His Kingdom. John was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his
mother's womb by Christ Himself, whom Mary had just conceived by the Holy
Spirit. Among a people unconcerned with the things of God, it was his work to
awaken their interest, unsettle them from their complacency, and arouse in them
enough good will to recognize and receive Jesus when He came.
In the Responsorial
Psalm we acclaim, "Lord, let us see Your kindness, and grant us Your
salvation...Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss"
(Ps 85:8, 11). We must challenge ourselves and honestly ask: Am I eager to hear
God's Word and be changed by it? What paths, in my own life, need to be made
straight?