Prayer of the Day

6

December 8th, 2013

 

The liturgy gives us three companions for our journey through Advent: Isaiah, John the Baptist and Mary.   In today’s liturgy we are introduced to John the Baptist.    He was chosen by God to prepare the people of Israel for the coming of the Lord.   As part of his own preparation he spent time in the desert leading a very ascetic life.   His preaching brought large crowds because of the authenticity of  the witness of his own life, the penitential clothes he chooses to wear and the food he chooses to live on and most of all his willingness to hand over his ministry to Jesus at the height of his own success: “he must increase and I must decrease” (Jn. 3:27-30).  We need to listen to John’s message about our need of repentance- our need to rethink our values and confront our selfishness and false ego- self so that the reign of God may begin in our hearts.