Reflections

“Let anyone with ears listen!”Our Gospel reading has given us a model of Christian Disciple­ ship: John the Baptist. He was greatly praised by Jesus. What made him great is that he always points to the coming of the Savior. He always leads people to Jesus, teaching them repentance, for­ giveness and reconciliation. He teaches them to transform their lives. Nevertheless, John never saw Jesus’ inauguration of the Kingdom of God. He was not able to see and witness Jesus’ miracles, healings, passion, death, resurrec­ tion and ascension. He was perse­ cuted and beheaded.True enough! The Incarnation marks the inauguration of the Kingdom of God here on earth. In the first reading Isaiah already prophesied:“I will help you, say the Lord; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel”. All these has been immortalized in John the Baptist.To follow the example of John the Baptist is a challenge to every­ one. He persevered in the faith. He continued preaching about Jesus. This is the message of Christmas: Jesus was born for us to be stead­ fast in our faith despite the many forms of resistance and violence, to preach the Good News of the Kingdom and to lead others to Jesus! Jesus, Emmanuel, God is al­ ways with us!
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