“Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan: And were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.”
The voice of prophecy, long silent in Israel-Judea, awakens anew, and the people, forlorn and captive to sin and Rome, come out in droves to hear the preaching of St. John the Baptist. The voice of the Lord resonates most clearly in times of great darkness and desolation, be this in the desolation of sin, when the conscience screams for a change, or in the darkness of God’s overwhelming presence, in which love is most present. The people run to him, and the simplicity of his life gave them a stark picture against which to measure themselves, and they confess their sins to a man that sinned not, entrusting him who was so upheld by God alone to not betray this trust. When they were baptized by him, this was by water alone, and a precursor to Jesus’ baptism, which had the power to remit sins. St. John’s was simply a figure of the mighty deluge that was to follow, and here it is important to note once again your own impact in others’ lives in the figure of John the Baptist. In the presence of God’s love within you, hearts may unfold, they may savor God’s presence, they may encounter the grace of the Holy Spirit through your very greeting: “And [Mary] entered into the house of Zachary, and Saluted Elizabeth…And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost” (Luke 1:40-41). All of these are forerunners to a potential actual experience with Jesus in confession, reception of the Holy Eucharist, and confirmation, respectively. Your love is a water of refreshment to those that thirst for a tender word or look; “thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail” (Isaias 58:11), or a fire of warmth to those whose hearts are cold: “He was a burning and a shining light: and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light” (John 5:35). While you are a vessel of God’s presence, a way by which people may encounter Jesus in a sacramental sense, it is to lead them to the true sacraments, that they may encounter Our Lord in a more direct way, to be loved by Him more fully, that they may themselves be overwhelmed with love: “Drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved” (Song 5:1). Ah, people are so moved by the love of neighbor, but a greater love awaits them in God Himself! “If thou didst know the gift of God” (John 4:10)!