Tell John What You Hear and See

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

Although tradition tells us that John the Baptist and Jesus were related, the scripture also seems to suggest that, for a time at least, John was unsure of Jesus' identity. Why else would he have sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the "one who is to come?" Jesus' response is clear. He assures John that he is the one spoken of by Isaiah the prophet and Jesus' answer sets the tone for his entire mission and ministry. He will be a healer who does justice, and it is his commitment to justice that will lead to his death.

John the Baptist, like Jesus, believed that the Jewish leaders had failed the poor and he was not afraid to voice his displeasure both in his preaching and lifestyle. John was a hermit who lived in the desert. His preaching attracted large crowds from among the poor because he spoke to their hearts and defended their rights, but when he attacked Herod for his marriage to Herodias, the wife of his half brother Philip, John was a marked man.

Both John and Jesus remind us that speaking the truth, despite its consequences, is an essential element of embracing the Good News. This is not to say, as Pope Francis reminds us, that we should be strident and overly focused on one or the other issue. Rather, we need to read the signs of the times and speak up on behalf of those whose lives are most threatened.

Pope Francis mentioned the unemployment of the young and the loneliness of the old as growing problems in the 21st century to which the church must address herself. His concerns need not become normative for us, but ought to stimulate our thinking and action. In this way, we all become committed to the needy and forgotten.

Today, ask the Lord to free you from the fear of speaking truth to power.

Have you known a John the Baptist? What attracted you to him/her?

St John of the Cross

"In those days, like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace." Sir 48:1

St John of the Cross was a very young man when St Teresa of Avila saw qualities in him he could never have seen himself. Bright and insightful, an artist and song writer, above all John was drawn to the mystical path in the spiritual life and was not afraid of the dark night to which he was called. Teresa knew John was different and although she was thirty years older than John, she wrote, "He was so good that I, at least, could have learned much more from him than he from me."

John of the Cross was destined to be like Elijah the prophet, a fire and a flaming furnace of God's love. When he died at 49 he had helped found, despite enormous opposition from his own Carmelite brothers, many monasteries of discalced Carmelites who led an intense life of prayer and penance while also being hugely effective apostolic ministers, writers and preachers. The poet, Jessica Powers, shortly before she entered the Carmelites herself, wrote of John's books:

Out of what door that came ajar in heaven

       drifted this starry manna down to me,

       to the dilated mouth both hunger given

       and all satiety?

       Who bore at midnight to my very dwelling

       the gift of this imperishable food?

       my famished spirit with its fragrance filling,

       its savor certitude.

       The mind and heart ask, and the soul replies

       what store is heaped on these bare shelves of mine?

       The crumbs of the immortal delicacies

       fall with precise design.

       Mercy grows tall with the least heart enlightened,

       and I, so long a fosterling of night,

       here feast upon immeasurably sweetened

       wafers of light.

Today, ask God to let you see with God's own eyes.

What keeps you from a more intense prayer life?

St Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

"If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea; Your descendants would be like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains." Is 48:18

Rivers are fascinating bodies of water. Some flow fast and hard. Others meander through fields slowly and methodically. Isaiah knows this and uses the river as a way to speak of God's graciousness. Whether with fierce power or gentle kindness, God will reward those who live the spirit of the law. More, God will grow the righteous like the sands of the sea and spread their glory over the entire earth.

Faithfulness, the most basic way God tells who God is, is the great challenge of the Gospel. We must be faithful, not only to God, but to all God's people, and fidelity is not simply a function or series of actions, but a way of life, an attitude.

St Lucy, about whom we know very little, was faithful. Despite the rejection she felt from her friends because of her faith in Jesus, she never turned away from her Savior, and when she refused the sexual advances of a man who thought of her as an object of his desire, not a person or a believer, her fate was sealed. Disingenuously accusing Lucy of being a Christian, a charge that led to her martyrdom, her "suitor" assured her salvation. Lucy, whose name means light, continues to challenge us to fidelity no matter the cost.

Today, be faithful to someone who you dislike for the sake of the Gospel.

Who most challenges you with his or her fidelity to God despite the consequences?

Our Lady of Guadalupe

"You are the highest honor of our race." Jdt 13:18

Comparisons are usually odious. They make for winners and losers, and while this is perfectly acceptable in sport and other contests, comparisons between and among people leads to envy, resentment and occasionally violence. Unfortunately, our political system in the United States is an unfortunate example of this. So consumed with winning and losing battles over legislation, our Congress has lost its way, and the people who most depend upon government for work, help and a sense of stability are the losers.

When the scriptures remind us that Mary is the greatest of humans, they are not comparing her to anyone, but are honoring  her as first among all.  Mary, the mother of Jesus and God, has been such a consolation to people through the centuries that many could not imagine life without her protection and guidance, and this is particularly true in the developing world.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of the Americas, is dressed as peasant woman and appeared to St Juan Diego, an indigenous weaver, farmer and laborer. Speaking in Juan Diego's native language, Nahuatl, the young girl first told him to go the archbishop and ask that a basilica be built in her honor at Tepeyac. When the bishop asked Juan Diego for a sign of the young girl's identity, Juan Diego returned with a cloak or tilma filled with flowers not native to the area. When Juan Diego presented them to the Archbishop an image of Mary was on the Tilma. Now the most visited Marian site in the world, Guadalupe continues to inspire countless pilgrims to believe in their own goodness despite their poverty and and powerlessness, and to celebrate God's love for all people.

Today, ask Mary to guide you to her Son.

Is there an image or story of Mary that inspires you and strengthens your faith?