John the Baptist prepares us for the Lord’s coming

Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he (Mt 11:11).

My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

In his message for the Second Sunday of Advent two years ago (see below), Pope Francis called our attention to the powerful figure of Saint John the Baptist. Our Church rightly considers John to be the last in a long line of Old Testament prophets. He stands out as a herald and precursor of the long-awaited Messiah, the One that God promised would save us from our bondage to sin and death.

John the Baptist stands out prominently until the moment when Jesus appears. Then he rightly proclaims that he, John, must diminish even as Jesus, his younger cousin, increases. As we read in Saint Luke’s Gospel (3:15–17):

Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah.

John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

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