Divine self-effacement

"Behold, the Lamb of God. ... He must increase; I must decrease." -- John 1:36; 3:30

St. John the Baptist, in his great humility, didn't draw attention to himself, but always pointed to the Lamb of God, Jesus. This aspect of St. John the Baptist reminds me of this passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"Now God's Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself. The Spirit who 'has spoken through the prophets' makes us hear the Father's Word, but we do not hear the Spirit himself. We know him only in the movement by which he reveals the Word to us and disposes us to welcome him in faith. The Spirit of truth who 'unveils' Christ to us 'will not speak on his own.' [Jn 16:13] Such properly divine self-effacement explains why 'the world cannot receive [him], because it neither sees him nor knows him,' while those who believe in Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them. [Jn 14:17]" (CCC 687)

Dear Lord Jesus, St. John the Baptist shared deeply in the "divine self-effacement" of the Holy Spirit. May all of us present-day Elijahs be, like St. John the Baptist, people of the Holy Spirit, pointing always to Jesus. Amen.

Elijah-John the Baptist, Elisha-Jesus

"Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist ... And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come." -- Mt. 11:11, 14 (NAB)

Today is the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the one whom Jesus Himself called Elijah. Therefore, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm returning to the Elijah-Elisha theme. (Perhaps the only surprise is that I'm blogging for the third time this month! :-))

St. Francis de Sales, in one of his Advent sermons, wrote that St. John the Baptist's "humility, it seems to me, is the most excellent and the most perfect that has ever been, after that of Our Lord and the most sacred Virgin." (The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales for Advent and Christmas, Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1984, p. 22) The people of Judea are all abuzz over the possibility that he might be the Messiah. The priests and Levites even came out to him to ask if he's the Messiah. He could easily have yielded to the temptation to claim for his own the title.

But his commitment to the truth is too great. He will not claim to himself that which is not rightly his. In fact, as St. Francis points out, he doesn't even claim that title -- Elijah -- which rightly was his. As St. Francis puts it, "Admirable humility!"

Father, thank You for the wonderful example of St. John the Baptist, especially his amazing humility. Please help us in the Elijah generation especially to imitate his commitment to truth which allows this grace of humility to flow through our lives and into the lives of others. Amen.