Dear Friends,

The person of St. John the Baptist is central in our celebration of the Advent season; mysterious, curious, even strange, yet nonetheless, central. True as that may be, it seems as if the particular passage of the Gospel chosen for us to reflect upon this week is out of place. While this is the only one of four Sundays that our focus is directed on the “Joy-filled” aspect of our anticipatory and profound longing … its eventual fulfillment; Matthew seems to highlight John’s questioning his purpose or possibly doubting Jesus Himself. Odd, at first, but maybe we’re focusing on one aspect of the Gospel versus attempting to understand it in the whole context of John’s mission as herald and our Lord’s Messiahship. If you were to come to the Catholic Faith expecting easy answers and a life without adversity … my response would be: “On which planet do you live?” or better: “How could you come to that conclusion; if you have considered the multitude the stories of courage and valor, sacrifice and faith that define the heroes of Christianity following the example of Jesus Himself?”

Let’s re-cap … on this Gaudete Sunday, this Joyful Sunday of Advent, we hear of John in prison! John is relatively certain that he will die in prison because he has been given a life sentence … or will be put to death … killed! John’s entire life has been one of sacrifice and penance, not of self-seeking and pleasure. As is so beautifully portrayed in his conversation with Jesus in The Chosen, when he says, “But You know that my heart is Yours, my life is Yours. The sole reason why I was miraculously conceived by two old people was to pave the way for You. I’m just impatient for You to get to work.” It is clear from Holy Scripture and the tradition of the Church that John lived disposing his entire life to the service of heralding the Messiah! And while the prison walls deprive him of sunshine, companionship, cleanliness and food; he longs for some tiny glint of Eternal light assuring or reminding him that his life is not in vain. So, as the Gospel reads: “He sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, ‘Are you the One who is to come, or should we look for another?’ Jesus said to them in reply, ‘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.’”

In the on-going struggle against an immature faith, I sometimes ask: “Why didn’t Jesus cut John a little break and just go visit him in prison or simply tell John’s disciples to say, “Yes, I am He!” Rather than making John “feel” good about himself and all that he had done, however, Jesus’ seemingly vague response lovingly challenges John to liberate himself out of the prison of his doubts and calls him to an act of faith, not so much in Him (Jesus) but in the truth of God’s Word that had been spoken through the millennia. Jesus, by telling John’s disciples to tell John what they were seeing, is also inviting his disciples to witness to the truth of the fulfillment of those prophecies … the signs that would herald the Messiah’s advent were in fact happening. The joy of this story is that John believed and did not despair. Deprived of the sunshine, companionship, and food of this world, John chose not define his life by earthly boundaries, but rather by the eternal horizons to which he was called by Jesus … the Light of the World, EmmanuelGod-with-us, the Bread of Eternal Life! John went to his death willingly and freely giving witness to the Truth in Love.

This, my friends, is the joy of Integrity, the joy of telling the Truth, the joy of finding not only something to live for; but something … Someone for whom to die! This is the joy of our faith to which each of us is called this day. As St. Paul exhorts us: “You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand. Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates. Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.”

Be of good cheer and have a blessed Advent!

Msgr. Grous