By Shiju Joseph csc –
Readings: Is 61: 1-2a, 10-11; 1Thes 5:16-24; Jn 1:6-8, 19-28
On this third Sunday of Advent, we focus on the mission of John the Baptist. He appeared in the wilderness to preach repentance. He described himself as the “voice” that cries out in the wilderness: a voice that has no freedom whether to reach the listeners or not after it has left the speaker. He is a ‘voice’ that knows he is not the speaker. He is a ‘voice’ of someone else. John the Baptist was keenly aware of his identity as the ‘sent’ one. He knew he was the voice sent forth from God announcing the arrival of the Messiah. His words make clear that he wanted the focus to be on the speaker, not the voice.
Because of this awareness, John does not come across as someone who hesitated to say what needed to be said. As a ‘sent’ person, he did not worry whether his words were accepted by others or not. When people did not listen to him, it was the one who sent him who was not listened to. John did not have to take things personally when he met with rejection or adulation. Both belonged to the one who sent him.
The vocation of a Christian, and more specifically that of a consecrated person, is to be the ‘voice’ that announces God’s presence among the people. In order for us to be attuned to God and become his ‘voice’ to others, Isaiah suggests that we recognize the gift of the Spirit that we have been blessed with and the mission entrusted to us. And St. Paul reminds us to be continually in joyful and grateful communion with God. May we take Isaiah and St. Paul seriously, and become powerful ‘voices’ that our people around us need to hear.